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PITTSBURGH 

A SKETCH OF ITS EARLY 
SOCIAL LIFE 



BY 

CHARLES W; DAHLINGER 



G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 

NEW YORK AND LONDON 

JLbe IRnicfterbocfter iptess 
1916 



1S9 



rF6>D/f 



Copyright, 1916 

BY 

CHARLES W. DAHLINGER 



tCbe Tftnfcfterjjocfiet ©reea, "Mew IBorft 



^/. 



MAY -9 1916 
©CLA431.0«.)G 



B. McC. D. 



PREFACE 

THE purpose of these pages is to describe 
the early social life of Pittsburgh. The 
civilization of Pittsburgh was crude and 
vigorous, withal prescient of future culture and 
refinement. 

The place sprang into prominence after the 
conclusion of the French and Indian War, and 
upon the improvement of the military roads laid 
out over the Alleghany Mountains during that 
struggle. Pittsburgh was located on the main 
highway leading to the Mississippi Valley, and 
was the principal stopping place in the journey 
from the East to the Louisiana country. The 
story of its early social existence, interwoven as 
it is with contemporaneous national events, is of 
more than local interest. 



C. W. D. 



Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 
November, 191 5. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER 



PAGE 



I. — The Formative Period . . . i 

II. — A New County and a New Borough 22 

III.— The Melting Pot . . . .38 

IV. — Life at the Beginning of the Nine- 
teenth Century .... 62 

V. — The Seat of Power ... 90 

VI. — Public and Private Affairs . .114 

VII. — A Duel and Other Matters . . 138 

VIII. — Zadok Cramer .... 161 

IX. — The Broadening of Culture . .184 

Index ...... 209 



Pittsburgh 

CHAPTER I 

THE FORMATIVE PERIOD 

UNTIL all fear of Indian troubles had ceased, 
there was practically no social life in 
American pioneer communities. As long 
as marauding bands of Indians appeared on the 
outskirts of the settlements, the laws were but a 
loose net with large meshes, thrown out from the 
longer-settled country whence they emanated. In 
the numerous interstices the laws were ineffective. 
In this Pittsburgh was no exception. The nomi- 
nal reign of the law had been inaugurated among 
the settlers in Western Pennsylvania as far back 
as 1750, when the Western country was no man's 
land, and the rival claims set up by France and 
England were being subjected to the arbitrament 



2 Pittsburgh 

of the sword. In that year Cumberland County 
was formed. It was the sixth county in the prov- 
ince, and comprised all the territory west of the 
Susquehanna River, and north and west of York 
County — limitless in its westerly extent — between 
the province of New York on one side, and the 
colony of Virginia and the province of Maryland 
on the other. The first county seat was at 
Shippinsburg, but the next year, when Carlisle 
was laid out, that place became the seat of justice. 
I After the conclusion of the French and Indian 
War, and the establishment of English supremacy, 
a further attempt was made to govern Western 
Pennsylvania by lawful methods, and in 1771 
Bedford County was formed out of Cumberland 
County. It included nearly all of the western 
half of the province. With Bedford, the new 
county seat, almost a hundred miles away, the law 
had little force in and about Pittsburgh. To bring 
the law nearer home, Westmoreland County was 
formed in 1773, from Bedford County, and em- 
braced all of the province west of "Laurel Hill." 
The county seat was at Hannastown, three miles 
northeast of the present borough of Greensburg. 



The Formative Period 3 

But with Virginia and Pennsylvania each claiming 
jurisdiction over the territory an uncertainty pre- 
vailed which caused more disregard for the law. 
The Revolutionary War came on, with its attend- 
ant Indian troubles; and in 1794 the western 
counties revolted against the national government 
on account of the imposition of an excise on 
whisky. It was only after the last uprising had 
been suppressed that the laws became effective 
and society entered upon the formative stage. 

Culture is the leading element in the formation 
and progress of society, and is the result of mental 
activity. The most potent agency in the produc- 
tion of culture is education. While Pittsburgh 
was a frontier village, suffering from the turbu- 
lence of the French and Indian War, the uncer- 
tainty of the Revolution, and the chaos of the 
Whisky Insurrection, education remained at a 
standstill. The men who had blazed trails through 
the trackless forests, and buried themselves in 
the woods or along the uncharted rivers, could 
usually read and write, but there were no means 
of transmitting these boons to their children. The 
laws of the province made no provision for schools 



4 Pittsburgh 

on its frontiers. In December, 1761, the inhabit- 
ants of Pittsburgh subscribed sixty pounds and 
engaged a schoolmaster for the term of a year to 
instruct their children. Similar attempts followed, 
but, like the first effort, ended in failure. There 
was not a newspaper in all the Western country; 
the only books were the Bible and the almanac. 
The almanac was the one form of secular litera- 
ture with which frontier families were ordinarily 
familiar. 

In 1764, while Pittsburgh was a trading post, 
the military authorities caused a plan of the village 
to be made by Colonel John Campbell. It con- 
sisted of four blocks, and was bounded by Water 
Street, Second Street, now Second Avenue, Mar- 
ket and Ferry Streets, and was intersected by 
Chancery Lane. The lots faced in the direction of 
Water Street. In this plan most of the houses 
were built. 

At the outbreak of the Revolution, the proprie- 
tors of the province were the cousins, John Penn, 
Jr., and John Penn, both grandsons of William 
Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania. Being royal- 
ists, they had been divested of the title to all their 



The Formative Period 5 

lands in Pennsylvania, except to a few tracts which 
had been surveyed, called manors, one of them 
being "Pittsburgh," in which was included the 
village of that name. In 1784 the Penns con- 
ceived the design of selling land in the village of 
Pittsburgh. The first sale was made in January, 
when an agreement to sell was entered into with 
Major Isaac Craig and Colonel Stephen Bayard, 
for about three acres, located "between Fort Pitt 
and the Allegheny River." The Penns deter- 
mined to lay out a town according to a plan of 
their own, and on April 22, 1784, Tench Francis, 
their agent, employed George Woods, an engineer 
living at Bedford, to do the work. The plan was 
completed in a few months, and included within 
its boundaries all the land in the triangle between 
the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers, extending 
to Grant Street and Washington, now Eleventh, 
Street. Campbell's plan was adopted unchanged; 
Tench Francis approved the new plan and began 
to sell lots. Major Craig and Colonel Bayard ac- 
cepted, in lieu of the acreage purchased by them, 
a deed for thirty- two lots in this plan. 

Until this time, the title of the occupants of 



6 Pittsburgh 

lands included in the plan had been by sufferance 
only. The earlier Penns were reputed to have 
treated the Indians, the original proprietors of 
Pennsylvania, with consideration. In the same 
manner John Penn, Jr., and John Penn dealt with 
the persons who made improvements on the lands 
to which they had no title. They permitted the 
settlement on the assumption that the settlers 
would afterwards buy the land; and they gave 
them a preference. Also when litigation arose, 
caused by the schemes of land speculators intent 
on securing the fruits of the enterprise and industry 
of squatters on the Penn lots, the courts generally 
intervened in favor of the occupants.^ The sale 
was advertised near and far, and immigrants and 
speciilators flocked into the village. They came 
from Eastern Pennsylvania, from Virginia, from 
Maryland, from New York, and from distant 
New England. The pack trains carrying mer- 
chandise and household effects into Pittsburgh 
became ever longer and more numerous. 

Once that the tide of emigration had set in 
toward the West, it grew constantly in volume. 
The roads over the Alleghany Mountains were 



The Formative Period 7 

improved, and wheeled conveyances no longer 
attracted the curious attention that greeted Dr. 
Johann David Schoepf when he arrived in Pitts- 
burgh in 1783, in the cariole in which he had crossed 
the mountains, an achievement which until then 
had not been considered possible. ^ The monoto- 
nous hoof -beats of the pack horses became less 
frequent, and great covered wagons, drawn by- 
four horses, harnessed two abreast, came rumbling 
into the village. But not all the people or all 
the goods remained in Pittsburgh. There were 
still other and newer Eldorados, farther away to 
the west and the south, and these lands of milk 
and honey were the Meccas of many of the^adven- 
turers. Pittsburgh was the depository of the 
merchandise sent out from Philadelphia and Balti- 
more, intended for the western and southern 
country and for the numerous settlements that 
were springing up along the Monongahela and 
Allegheny Rivers. ^ From Pittsburgh trading 
boats laden with merchandise were floated down 
the Ohio River, stopping at the towns on its banks 
to vend the articles which they carried. ^ Coal 
was cheap and emigrant and trading boats carried 



8 Pittsburgh 

it as ballast, s In Pittsburgh the immigrants 
lingered, purchasing supplies, and gathering in- 
formation about the country beyond. Some pro- 
ceeded overland. Others sold the vehicles in 
which they had come, and continued the journey 
down the Ohio River, in Kentucky flat or family 
boats, in keel boats, arks, and barges. The con- 
struction and equipping of boats became an 
industry of moment in Pittsburgh. 

The last menace from the Indians who owned 
and occupied the country north of the Allegheny 
and Ohio Rivers was removed on October 21, 
1784, when the treaty with the Six Nations was 
concluded at Fort Stanwix, by which all the Indian 
lands in Pennsylvania except a tract bordering 
on Lake Erie were ceded to the State. This vast 
territory was now opened for settlement, and 
resulted in more immigrants passing through 
Pittsburgh. The northerly boundary of the vil- 
lage ceased to be the border line of civilization. 
The isolation of the place became less pronounced. 
The immigrants who remained in Pittsburgh were 
generally of a sturdy class, and were young and 
energetic. Among them were former Revolu- 



The Formative Period 9 

tionary officers and soldiers. They engaged in 
trade, and as an adjunct of this business specu- 
lated in lands in the county, or bought and sold 
town lots. A few took up tavern keeping. From 
the brief notes left by Lewis Brantz who stopped 
over in Pittsburgh in 1785, while on a journey 
from Baltimore to the Western country, it appears 
that at this time Fort Pitt was still garrisoned 
by a small force of soldiers; that the inhabitants 
lived chiefly by traffic, and by entertaining trav- 
ellers ; and that there were but few mechanics in 
the village.^ The extent of the population can be 
conjectured, when it is known that in 1786 there 
were in Pittsburgh only thirty-six log buildings, 
one of stone, and one of frame; and that there 
were six stores. "^ 

Religion was long dormant on the frontier. 
In 1 761 and 1762, when the first school was in 
operation in Pittsburgh, the schoolmaster con- 
ducted religious services on Sundays to a small 
congregation. Although under the direction of a 
Presbyterian, the services consisted in reading the 
Prayers and the Litany from the Book of Common 
Prayer. ^ During the military occupation, a chap- 



10 Pittsburgh 

lain was occasionally stationed at Fort Pitt around 
which the houses clustered. From time to time 
missionaries came and tarried a few days or weeks, 
and went their way again. The long intervals 
between the religious services were periods of in- 
difference. An awakening came at last, and the 
religious teachings of early life reasserted them- 
selves, and the settlers sought means to re-estab- 
lish a spiritual life in their midst. The Germans 
and Swiss-Germans of the Protestant Evangelical 
and Protestant Reformed faiths jointly organized 
a German church in 1782; and the Presbyterians 
formed a church organization two years later. 

The first pastor of the German church was the 
Rev. Johann Wilhelm Weber, who was sent out 
by the German Reformed Synod at Reading.^ 
He had left his charge in Eastern Pennsylvania 
because the congregation which he served had 
not been as enthusiastic in its support of the Revo- 
lution as he deemed proper. ^ ° The services were 
held in a log building situated at what is now the 
corner of Wood Street and Diamond Alley." 
Besides ministering to the wants of the Pittsburgh 
church, there were three other congregations on 



The Formative Period ii 

Weber's circuit, which extended fifty miles east 
of Pittsburgh. When he came West in Sep- 
tember, 1782, the Revolutionary War was still 
in progress; Hannastown had been burned by 
the British and Indians in the preceding July; 
hostile Indians and white outlaws continually 
beset his path. He was a soldier of the Cross, 
but he was also ready to fight worldly battles. 
He went about the country armed not only with 
the Bible, but with a loaded rifle, '== and was pre- 
pared to battle with physical enemies, as well as 
with the devil. 

. Hardly had the churches come into existence 
when another organization was formed whose 
origin is claimed to be shrouded in the mists of 
antiquity. In the American history of the order, 
the membership included many of the greatest 
and best known men in the country. On Decem- 
ber 27, 1785, the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, 
Free and Accepted Masons, granted a charter to 
certain freemasons resident in Pittsburgh, which 
was designated as "Lodge No. 45 of Ancient York 
Masons." It was not only the first masonic lodge 
in Pittsburgh, but the first in the Western coun- 



12 Pittsburgh 

try. ^3 Almost from the beginning, Lodge No. 45 
was the most influential social organization in 
the village. Nearly all the leading citizens were 
members. Toward the close of the eighteenth 
century the place of meeting was in the tavern 
of William Morrow, at the "Sign of the Green 
Tree," on Water Street, two doors above Market 
Street. ' " Although not a strictly religious organi- 
zation, the order carefully observed certain Church 
holidays. St. John the Baptist's day and St. 
John the Evangelist's day were never allowed to 
pass without a celebration. Every year in June, 
on St. John the Baptist's day, Lodge No. 45 met 
at 10 o'clock in the morning and, after the ser- 
vices in the lodge were over, paraded the streets. 
The members walked two abreast. Dressed in 
their best clothes, with cocked hats, long coats, 
knee-breeches, and buckled shoes, wearing the 
aprons of the craft, they marched "in ancient 
order." The sword bearer was in advance; the 
oflicers wore embroidered collars, from which 
depended their emblems of ofBce; the wardens 
carried their truncheons ; the deacons, their staves. 
The Bible, surmounted by a compass and a square, 



The Formative Period 13 

on a velvet cushion, was borne along. When the 
Rev. Robert Steele came to preach in the Presby- 
terian Meeting House, the march was from the 
lodge room to the church. Here Mr. Steele 
preached a sermon to the brethren, after which 
they dined together at Thomas Ferree's tavern 
at the "Sign of the Black Bear,"^s or at the "Sign 
of the Green Tree."'^ St. John the Evangelist's 
day was observed with no less circumstance. 
In the morning the officers of the lodge were in- 
stalled. Addresses of a semi-religious or philo- 
sophic character, eulogistic of masonry, were 
delivered by competent members or visitors. 
This ceremony was followed in the afternoon by 
a dinner either at some tavern or at the home of 
a member. Dinners seemed to be a concomitant 
part of all masonic ceremonies. 

By the time that the last quarter of the eigh- 
teenth century was well under way, the hunters 
and trappers had left for more prolific hunting 
grounds. The Indian traders with their lax 
morals '' had disappeared forever in the direction 
of the setting sun, along with the Indians with 
whom they bartered. If any traders remained, 



14 Pittsburgh 

they conformed to the precepts of a higher civili- 
zation. Only a scattered few of the red men con- 
tinued to dwell in the hills surrounding the village, 
or along the rivers, eking out a scant livelihood 
by selling game in the town.^^ 

A different moral atmosphere appeared : schools 
of a permanent character were established; the 
German church conducted a school which was 
taught by the pastor. Secular books were now 
in the households of the more intelligent; a few 
of the wealthier families had small libraries, and 
books were sold in the town. On August 26, 1786, 
Wilson and Wallace advertised "testaments, 
Bibles, spelling books, and primers" for sale.'' 
Copies of the Philadelphia and Baltimore news- 
papers were brought by travellers, and received 
by private arrangement. 

In July, 1786, John Scull and Joseph Hall, 
two young men of more than ordinary daring, came 
from Philadelphia and established a weekly news- 
paper called the Pittsburgh Gazette, which was the 
first newspaper published in the country west of the 
Alleghany Mountains. The partnership lasted only 
a few months, Hall dying on November 10, 1786, 



The Formative Period 15 

at the early age of twenty-two years ;^° and in the 
following month, John Boyd, also of Philadelphia, 
purchased Hall's interest and became the partner 
of Scull. ^^ For many years money was scarcely 
seen in Pittsburgh in commercial transactions, 
everything being consummated in trade. A few 
months after its establishment, the Pittsburgh 
Gazette gave notice to all persons residing in the 
country that it would receive country produce 
in payment of subscriptions to the paper. ^^ 

The next year there were printed, and kept for 
sale at the office of the Pittsburgh Gazette, spelling 
books, and The A.B. C. with the Shorter Catechism, 
to which are Added Some Short and Easy Questions 
or Children; secular instruction was combined with 
religious. ^2 The Pittsburgh Gazette also conducted 
an emporium where other reading matter might 
be purchased. In the issue for June 16, I'jS'J, an 
illuminating notice appeared: "At the printing 
office, Pittsburgh, may be had the laws of this 
State, passed between the thirtieth of September, 
1775, and the Revolution; New Testaments; 
Dilworth's Spelling Books ; New England Primers, 
with Catechism; Westminster Shorter Catechism; 



i6 Pittsburgh 

A Journey from Philadelphia to New York by 
Way of Burlington and South Amboy, by Robert 
Slenner, Stocking Weaver; . . . also a few books 
for the learner of the French language." 

In November, 1787, there was announced as 
being in press at the office of the Pittsburgh Gazette 
the Pittsburgh Almanac or Western Ephemeris 
for iy88.^^ The same year that the almanac ap- 
peared, John Boyd attempted the establishment 
of a circulating library. In his announcement 
on July 26th, ^5 he declared that the library 
would be opened as soon as a hundred subscribers 
were secured; and that it would consist of five 
hundred well chosen books. Subscriptions were to 
be received at the ofiice of the Pittsburgh Gazette. 
Boyd committed suicide in the early part of 
August by hanging himself to a tree on the hill 
in the town, which has ever since borne his name, 
and Scull became the sole owner of the Pittsburgh 
Gazette. This act of self-destruction, and the fact 
that Boyd's name as owner appeared in the Pitts- 
burgh Gazette for the last time on August 2d, 
would indicate that the library was never estab- 
lished. Perhaps it was the anticipated failure of 



The Formative Period 17 

the enterprise that prompted Boyd to commit 
suicide. 

The door to higher education was opened on 
February 28, 1787, when the Pittsburgh Academy 
was incorporated by an Act of the General Assem- 
bly. This was the germ which has since devel- 
oped into the University of Pittsburgh. Another 
step which tended to the material and mental 
advancement of the place, was the inauguration 
of a movement for communicating regularly with 
the outside world. On September 30, 1786, a 
post route was established with Philadelphia,^^ 
and the next year the general government entered 
into a contract for carrying the mails between 
Pittsburgh and that city.^^ Almost immediately 
afterward a post office was established in Pitts- 
burgh with Scull as postmaster, and a regular 
post between the village and Philadelphia and 
the East was opened on July 19, 1788.^^ These 
events constituted another milestone in the pro- 
gress of Pittsburgh. 

Another instrument in the advancement of the 
infant community was the Mechanical Society 
which came into existence in 1788. On the twenty- 



1 8 Pittsburgh 

second of March, the following unique advertise- 
ment appeared in the Pittsburgh Gazette: "Society 
was the primeval desire of our first and great an- 
cestor Adam; the same order for that blessing 
seems to inhabit more or less the whole race. To 
encourage this it seems to be the earnest wish of a 
few of the mechanics in Pittsburgh, to have a gen- 
eral meeting on Monday the 24th inst., at six p.m., 
at the house of Andrew Watson, tavern keeper, to 
settle on a plan for a well regulated society for the 
purpose. This public method is taken to invite 
the reputable tradesmen of this place to be punc- 
tual to their assignation." 

I Andrew Watson's tavern was in the log building, 
at the northeast comer of Market and Front 
Streets. Front Street was afterward called First 
Street, and is now First Avenue. At that time 
all the highways running parallel with the Monon- 
gahela River were designated as streets, as they 
are now called avenues. The object of the Me- 
chanical Society was the improvement of the con- 
dition of the workpeople, to induce workpeople to 
settle in the town, and to procure manufactories 
to be established there. 



The Formative Period 19 

The society was more than local in character, 
similar societies being in existence in New York, 
Philadelphia, and in the neighboring village of 
Washington. At a later day the Mechanical 
Society of Pittsburgh produced plays, some of 
which were given in the grand-jury room in the 
upper story of the new court house. The society 
also had connected with it a circulating library, 
a cabinet of curiosities, and a chemical laboratory. 



REFERENCES 
Chapter I 

James Fearnly v. Patrick Murphy, Addison's Reports, 
Washington, 1800, p. 22; John Marie v. Samuel Semple, 
ibid., p. 215. 

JoHANN David Schoepf. Reise durch einige der mitthrn 
und siidlichen vereinigten nordamerikanischen Staaten, 
Erlangen, 1788, vol. i., p. 370. 

P. A. Michaux. Travels to the Westward of the Alleghany 
Mountains, London, 1805, p. 37, 

Thaddeus Mason Harris. The Journal of a Tour, Boston, 
1805, p. 42. 

"A Sketch of Pittsburgh." The Literary Magazine, Phila- 
delphia, 1806, p. 253. 

Lewis Brantz. "Memoranda of a Journey in the West- 
erly Parts of the United States of America in 1785." In 
Henry R. Schoolcraft's Indian Antiquities, Philadelphia, 
Part IIL, pp. 335-351- 

Niles' Weekly Register, Baltimore, August 19, 1826, vol. xxx., 
p. 436. 

James Kenney. The Historical Magazine, New York, 1858, 
vol. ii., pp. 273-274. 

Rev. Cyrus Cort, D.D. Historical Sermon in the First 
Reformed Church of Greensburgh, Pennsylvania, October 

13, 1907, pp. 11-12. 
Johann David Schoepf. Reise durch einige der mittlern 

und siidlichen vereinigten nordamerikanischen Staaten, 

Erlangen,' 1788, vol. i., p. 247. 
Carl August Voss. Gedenkschrift zur Einhundertfuen- 

fundzwanzig-jaehrigen Jubel-Feier, Pittsburgh, Pa., 1907, 

p. 14- 

20 



The Formative Period 21 

" Rev. Cyrus Cort, D.D. Historical Sermon in the First 

Reformed Church of Greensburgh, Pennsylvania, October 

13, 1907. P- 20. 
" Samuel Harper. "Seniority of Lodge No. 45," ilii/ory 0/ 

Lodge No. 45, Free and Accepted Masons, 1785-1910, 

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, pp. 97-109. 
*'' Pittsburgh Gazette, June 15, 1799. 
*s Tree of Liberty, June 6, 1801. 
^* Tree of Liberty, June 12, 1802. 
*^ Diary of David McClure, New York, 1899, p. 53. 
^* Perrin DuLac. Voyage dans les Deux Louisianes, Lyon, 

An xiii-(i805), p. 132. 
*9 Pittsburgh Gazette, August 26, 1786. 
»° Pittsburgh Gazette, November 18, 1786. 
"^ Pittsburgh Gazette, January 6, 1787. 
'' Pittsburgh Gazette, December 2, 1786. 
=3 Pittsburgh Gazette, May 5, 1787. 
24 Pittsburgh Gazette, November 17, 1787. 
's Pittsburgh Gazette, July 26, 1788. 
** Pittsburgh Gazette, September 30, 1786. 
"'! Pittsburgh Gazette, March 24, 1787. 
** Pittsburgh Gazette, July 19, 1788. 



CHAPTER II 

A NEW COUNTY AND A NEW BOROUGH 

THE constantly rising tide of immigration re- 
quired more territorial subdivisions in the 
western part of the State. Westmoreland 
County had been reduced in size on March 28, 
178 1, by the creation of Washington County, but 
was still inordinately large. The clamor of the 
inhabitants of Pittsburgh for a separate county 
was heeded at last, and on September 24, 1788, 
Allegheny County was formed out of Westmore- 
land and Washington Counties. To the new 
county was added on September 17, 1789, other 
territory taken from Washington County. In 
March, 1792, the State purchased from the United 
States the tract of land adjoining Lake Erie, con- 
sisting of two hundred and two thousand acres, 
which the national government had recently ac-. 



A New County and a New Borough 23 

quired from the Indians. This was added to 
Allegheny County on April 3, 1792. The county 
then extended northerly to the line of the State 
of New York, and the border of Lake Erie, and 
westerly to the present State of Ohio." On 
March 12, 1800, the county was reduced by the 
creation of Beaver, Butler, Mercer, Crawford, 
Erie, Warren, Venango, and Armstrong Counties, 
the area of these counties being practically all 
taken from Allegheny County. By Act of the 
General Assembly of March 12, 1803, a small 
part of Allegheny County was added to Indiana 
County, and Allegheny County was reduced to 
its present form and dimensions. ^ 

On the formation of Allegheny County, Pitts- 
burgh became the county seat. The county was 
divided into townships, Pittsburgh being located 
in Pitt Township. Embraced in Pitt Township 
was all the territory between the Monongahela 
and Allegheny Rivers, as far east as Turtle Creek 
on the Monongahela River, and Plum Creek on 
the Allegheny River, and all of the county north 
of the Allegheny and Ohio Rivers. With the 
growth of prosperity in the county, petty offenses 



24 Pittsburgh 

became more numerous, and a movement was be- 
gun for the erection of a jail in Pittsburgh. ^ 

Next to the estabUshment of the Pittsburgh 
Gazette, the pubHcation and sale of books, and the 
opening of the post route to the eastern country, 
the most important event in the early social ad- 
vancement of Pittsburgh was the passage of an 
Act by the General Assembly, on April 22, 1794, in- 
corporating the place into a borough. The town- 
ship laws under which Pittsburgh had been 
administered were crude and intended only for 
agricultural and wild lands, and were inapplicable 
to the development of a town. Under the code of 
laws which it now obtained, it possessed functions 
suitable to the character which it assimied, and 
could perform acts leading to its material and 
social progress. It was given the power to open 
streets, to regulate and keep streets in order, to 
conduct markets, to abate nuisances, and to levy 
taxes.'' 

Before the incorporation of the borough, various 
steps had been taken in anticipation of that event. 
The Pittsburgh Fire Company was organized in 
1793, with an engine house ^ and a hand engine 



A New County and a New Borough 25 

brought from Philadelphia. A new era in trans- 
portation was inaugurated on Monday, October 
21, 1793, by the estabhshment of a packet line on 
the Ohio River, between Pittsburgh and Cincin- 
nati, with boats "sailing" bi-weekly. The safety 
of the passengers from attacks by hostile Indians 
infesting the Ohio Valley, was assured. The boats 
were bullet-proof, and were armed with small 
cannon carrying pound balls; muskets and amu- 
nition were provided, and from convenient port- 
holes, passengers and crew could fire on the 
enemy. ^ 

One of the first measures enacted after Pitts- 
burgh was incorporated, was that to prohibit hogs 
running at large. ^ The dissatisfaction occasioned 
by the imposition of the excise on whisky, had 
caused a spirit of lawlessness to spring up in the 
country about Pittsburgh. When this element 
appeared in the town, they were disposed, particu- 
larly when inflamed with whisky, to show their 
resentment toward the inhabitants, whom they 
regarded as being unfriendly to the Insurgent 
cause, by galloping armed through the streets, 
firing their pieces as they sped by, to the terror of 



26 Pittsburgh 

the townspeople. This was now made an offense 
punishable by a fine of five shillings. ^ 

Literary culture was hardly to be expected on 
the frontier, yet a gentleman resided in Pittsburgh 
who made some pretension in that direction, 
Hugh Henry Brackenridge was the leading lawyer 
of the town, and in addition to his other activities, 
was an author of note. Before coming to Pitts- 
burgh he had, jointly with Philip Freneau, written 
a volume of poetry entitled, The Rising Glory of 
America, and had himself written a play called 
The Battle of Bunker Hill. While a resident in 
Pittsburgh he contributed many articles to the 
Pittsburgh Gazette. His title to literary fame, 
however, results mainly from the political satire 
that he wrote, which in its day created a sensa- 
tion. It was called Modern Chivalry, and as origi- 
nally published was a small affair. Only one 
of the four volumes into which it was divided 
v/as printed in Pittsburgh, the first, second, 
and fourth being published in Philadelphia. The 
third volume came out in Pittsburgh, in 1793, 
and was printed by Scull, and was the first book 
published west of the Alleghany Mountains. The 



A New County and a New Borough 2^ 

work, as afterward rewritten and enlarged, ran 
through more than half a dozen editions. 

The interest in books increased. In 1793, 
William Semple began selling "quarto pocket and 
school Bibles, spelling books, primers, dictiona- 
ries, English and Dutch almanacs, with an assort- 
ment of religious, historical, and novel books."' 
"Novel books" was no doubt meant to indicate 
novels. In 1798 the town became possessed of a 
store devoted exclusively to literature. It was 
conducted in a wing of the house owned and 
partially occupied by Brackenridge on Market 
Street. 

John C. Gilkison had been a law student in 
Brackenridge' s office, and had tutored his son. 
Abandoning the idea of becoming a lawyer, he 
began with the aid of Brackenridge, to sell books 
as a business.^" In his announcement to the 
public his plans were outlined:" "John C. Gil- 
kison has just opened a small book and stationery 
store. . . . He has a variety of books for sale, 
school books especially, an assortment of which 
he means to increase, and keep up as encourage- 
ment may enable him; he has also some books of 



28 Pittsburgh 

general instruction and amusement, which he will 
sell or lend out for a reasonable time, at a reason- 
able price." 

Changes were made in the lines of the townships 
at an early day. When the new century dawned., 
Pitt Township adjoined Pittsburgh on the east. 
East of Pitt Township and between the Monon- 
gahela and Allegheny Rivers were the Townships 
of Plum, Versailles, and Elizabeth. On the south 
side of the Monongahela River, extending from 
the westerly line of the county to Chartiers Creek, 
was Moon Township. East of Chartiers Creek, 
and between that stream and Streets Run was St. 
Clair Township, and east of Streets Run, extend- 
ing along the Monongahela River, was Mifflin 
Township, which ran to the county line. Back of 
Moon Township was Fayette Township. North 
of the Allegheny and Ohio Rivers were the Town- 
ships of Pine and Deer. They were almost equal 
in area, Pine being in the west, and Deer in the 
east, the dividing line being near the mouth of 
Pine Creek in the present borough of Etna. 

The merchants and manufacturers of Pittsburgh 
had been accumulating money for a decade. In 



A New County and a New Borough 29 

the East money was the medium of exchange, and 
it was brought to the village by immigrants and 
travelers, and began to circulate more freely 
than before. In addition to the money put into 
circulation by the immigrants, the United States 
Government had expended nearly eight hundred 
thousand dollars on the expedition which was 
sent out to suppress the Whisky Insurrection. 
At least half of this sum was spent in Pittsburgh 
and its immediate vicinity, partly for supplies 
and partly by the men composing the army. The 
expedition was also the means of advertising the 
Western country in the East, and created a new 
interest in the town. A considerable influx of 
new immigrants resulted. With the growth in 
population, the number of the mercantile estab- 
lishments increased. Pittsburgh became more 
than ever the metropolis of the surrounding 
country. 

Ferries made intercourse with the districts 
across the rivers from Pittsburgh easy, except 
perhaps in winter when ice was in the streams. 
Three ferries were in operation on the Monon- 
gahela River. That of Ephraim Jones at the 



30 Pittsburgh 

foot of Liberty Street'^ was called the Lower 
Ferry. A short distance above the mouth of 
Wood Street was Robert Henderson's Ferry, for- 
merly conducted by Jacob Bausman. This was 
known as the Middle Ferry. Isaac Gregg's Ferry, 
at this time operated by Samuel Emmett,^^ also 
called the Upper Ferry, was located a quarter of 
a mile above the town, at the head of the Sand 
Bar. Over the Allegheny River, connecting St. 
Clair Street with the Franklin Road, now Federal 
Street, was James Robinson's Ferry. As an in- 
ducement to settle on the north side of the Alle- 
gheny River, Robinson advertised that "All 
persons going to and returning from sermon, and 
all funerals, ferriage free."^'' 

The aspect of the town was changing. It was 
no longer the village which Lewis Brantz saw on 
his visit in 1790, when he painted the sketch 
which is the first pictorial representation of the 
place extant. '5 in the old Military Plan the 
ground was compactly built upon. Outside of 
this plan the houses were sparse and few in 
number, and cultivated grounds intervened. 
Thomas Chapman who visited Pittsburgh in 



A New County and a New Borough 31 

1795, reported that out of the two hundred 
houses in the village, one hundred and fifty were 
built of logs.^^ They were mainly of rough-hewn 
logs, only an occasional house being of sawed logs. 
The construction of log houses was discontinued, 
the new houses being generally frame. Houses of 
brick began to be erected, the brick sold at the 
dismantling of Fort Pitt supplying the first ma- 
terial for the purpose. The houses built of brick 
taken from Fort Pitt were characterized by the 
whiteness of the brick of which they were con- 
structed. '^ Brickyards were established. When 
Chapman was in Pittsburgh, there were two brick- 
yards in operation in the vicinity of the town.'^ 
With their advent brick houses increased rapidly. 
With the evolution in the construction of the 
houses, came another advance conducive to both 
the health and comfort of the occupants. While 
window glass was being brought from the East, 
and was subject to the hazard of the long and 
rough haul over the Alleghany Mountains, the 
windows in the houses were few, and the panes 
of small dimensions; six inches in width by eight 
inches in length was an ordinary size. The 



32 Pittsburgh 

interior of the houses was dark, cheerless, and 
damp. In the spring of 1797, Albert Gallatin, in 
conjunction with his brother-in-law, James W. Nic- 
holson, and two Germans, Christian Kramer and 
Baltzer Kramer, who were experienced glass-blow- 
ers, began making window glass at a manufactory 
which they had established on the Monongahela 
River at New Geneva in Fayette County/' 
The same year that window glass was first pro- 
duced at New Geneva, Colonel James O'Hara 
and Major Isaac Craig commenced the construc- 
tion of a glass manufactory on the south side of 
the Monongahela River, opposite Pittsburgh, and 
made their first window glass in 1800. Both 
manufactories produced window glass larger in 
size than that brought from the East, O'Hara 
and Craig's glass measuring as high as eighteen 
by twenty-four inches. ^° The price of the Western 
glass was lower than that brought across the 
mountains. With cheaper glass, windows became 
larger and more numerous, and a more cheerful 
atmosphere prevailed in the houses. 

All that remained of Pittsburgh's former mili- 
tary importance were the dry ditch and old ram- 



A New County and a New Borough 33 

parts of Fort Pitt," in the westerly extremity 
of the town, together with some of the barracks 
and the stone powder magazine, and Fort Fayette 
near the northeasterly limits, now used solely 
as a miHtary storehouse. ^^ Not a trace of archi- 
tectural beauty was evident in the houses. They 
were built without regularity and were low and 
plain. In one block were one- and two-story log 
and frame houses, some with their sides, others 
with their gable ends, facing the street. In the 
next square there was a brick building of two or 
possibly three stories in height; the rest of the 
area was covered with wooden buildings of every 
size and description. The Lombardy poplars and 
weeping willows which grew along the streets ^^ 
softened the aspect of the houses before which 
they were planted. The scattered houses on the 
sides of the hills which commanded the town on 
the east ^4 ^ere more attractive. 

It was forty years before houses, even on the 
leading streets, were numbered. ""^ The taverns 
and many of the stores, instead of being known by 
the number of their location on the street, or by 
the name of the owner, were recognized by their 



34 Pittsburgh 

signs, which contained characteristic pictures or 
emblems. The signs were selected because asso- 
ciated with them was some well-known sentiment; 
or the picture represented a popular hero. In 
the latter category was the "Sign of General 
Washington," conducted by Robert Campbell, 
at the northeast corner of Wood Street and Dia- 
mond Alley. Sometimes the signs were of a humor- 
ous character, as the "Whale and the Monkey" 
with the added doggerel: 

"Here the weary may rest, 
The hungry feed, 
And those who thirst, 
May quaff the best," 

displayed by D. McLane^^ when he conducted 
the tavern on Water Street, afterward known as 
the " Sign of the Green Tree." The sign was hung 
either on the front of the house, or on a board 
attached to a wooden or iron arm projecting from 
the building, or from a post standing before it. The 
last was the manner in which most of the tavern 
signs were displayed. This continued until 1816, 
when all projecting or hanging signs were pro- 
hibited, except to taverns where stabling and other 



A New County and a New Borough 35 

accommodations for travelers could be obtained. 
Only taverns located at street corners were there- 
after permitted to have signposts. ""^ 

Not a street was paved, not even the footwalks, 
except for such irregular slabs of stone, or brick, 
or planks as had been laid down by the owners 
of adjoining houses. Major Thomas S. Forman 
who passed through Pittsburgh in December, 
1789, related that the town was the muddiest 
place he was ever in.'^^ In 1800, there was little 
improvement. Samuel Jones was the first Regis- 
ter and Recorder of Allegheny County, and held 
those offices almost continuously well into the 
nineteenth century. He resided in Pittsburgh 
during the entire period, and his opportunities for 
observation were unexcelled. His picture of the 
borough in 1800 is far from attractive. "The 
streets," he wrote, were "filled with hogs, dogs, 
drays, and noisy children." ""^ At night the streets 
were unlighted. "A solitary lamp twinkled here 
and there, over the door of a tavern, or on a 
signpost, whenever the moon was in its first or 
last quarter. The rest of the town was involved 
in primeval darkness . " 



REFERENCES 

Chapter II 

» Laura G. Sanford. The History of Erie County, PennsyU 
vania, Philadelphia, 1862, p. 60. 

• Judge J. W. F. White. Allegheny County, its Early History 

and Subsequent Development, Pittsburgh, Pa., 1888, pp. 

70-71. 

3 Pittsburgh Gazette, December 14, 1793. 

4 Act of April, 22, 1794; Act of September 12, 1782. 
s Pittsburgh Gazette, November 2, 1793. 

* Pittsburgh Gazette, November 23, 1793. 
1 Pittsburgh Gazette, May 31, 1794. 

8 Pittsburgh Gazette, June 21, 1794. 

9 Pittsburgh Gazette, November 2, 1793; Ibid., June 28, 1794. 
'" H. M. Brackenridge. Recollections of Persons and Places 

in the West, Philadelphia, 1868, pp. 44, 68. 

" Pittsburgh Gazette, December 29, 1798. 

" Neville B. Craig. The History of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, 
1851, p. 295. 

" Pittsburgh Gazette, April 30, 1802; Ibid., April 16, 1802. 

*< Pittsburgh Gazette, May 13, 1803. 

»5 Lewis Brantz. " Memoranda of a Journey in the Wes- 
terly Parts of the United States of America in 1785." In 
Henry R. Schoolcraft's Indian Antiquities, Philadelphia, 
Part III., pp. 335-351- 

»6 Thomas Chapman. "Journal of a Journey through the 
United States," The Historical Magazine, Morrisania, 
N. Y., 1869, vol. v., p. 359. 

*"> The Navigator for 1808, Pittsburgh, 1808, p. 33. 

** Thomas Chapman. "Journal of a Journey through the 
United States," The Historical Magazine, Morrisania, 
N. Y., 1869, vol, v., p. 359. 
36 



A New County and a New Borough 37 

*' Sherman Day. Historical Collections of the State of Penn- 
sylvania, Philadelphia, p. 345; Rev. William Hanna: 
History of Green County, Pa., 1882, pp. 247, 248. 

»" Pittsburgh Gazette, February i, 1800. 

31 F. Cuming. Sketches of a Tour to the Western Country, 
in 1807-1809, Pittsburgh, 1810, p. 225. 

»^ The Navigator for 1808, Pittsburgh, 1808, p. 33. 

»3 F. Cuming. Sketches of a Tour to the Western Country, 
in 1807-1809, Pittsburgh, 1810, p. 226. 

»4 F. A. MiCHAUx. Travels to the Westward of the Alleghany 
Mountains, London, 1805, p. 30. 

»s Harris's Pittsburgh and Allegheny Directory, ior 1839, p. 3; 
ibid., for 1841. 

^* Pittsburgh Gasette, May 3, 1794. 

»7 Ordinance City of Pittsburgh, September 7, 1816, Pittsburgh 
Digest, 1849, p. 238. 

»8 Major Samuel S. Forman. "Autobiography," The 
Historical Magazine, Morrisania, N. Y., 1869, vol. vi., 
pp. 324-325- 

»9 S. Jones. Pittsburgh in the Year 1826, Pittsburgh, 1826, 
pp. 39-41. 



CHAPTER III 



THE MELTING POT 



THE population of Pittsburgh was composed 
of various nationalities; those speaking 
the English language predominated. In 
addition to the Germans and Swiss-Germans, 
there were French and a few Italians. The 
majority of the English-speaking inhabitants were 
of Irish or Scotch birth, or immediate extraction. 
Of those bom in Ireland or Scotland, some were 
old residents — so considered if they had lived in 
Pittsburgh for ten years or more — while others 
were recent immigrants. The Germans and 
French had come as early as the Irish and Scotch. 
The Italians were later arrivals. There was also 
a sprinkling of Welsh. The place contained a 
number of negroes, nearly all of whom were slaves, 
there being in 1800 sixty-four negro slaves in 

38 



The Melting Pot 39 

Allegheny County, ^ most of whom were in Pitts- 
burgh and the immediate vicinity. A majority 
of the negroes had been brought into the village 
in the early days by emigrants from Virginia and 
Maryland. Their number was gradually decreas- 
ing. By Act of the General Assembly of March 
I, 1780, all negroes and mulattoes born after that 
date, of slave mothers, became free upon arriving 
at the age of twenty-eight years. Then on March 
29, 1788, it was enacted that any slaves brought 
into the State by persons resident thereof, or in- 
tending to become such, should immediately be 
free. "^ Also public sentiment was growing hostile 
to the institution of negro slavery. The few free 
negroes in Pittsburgh were engaged in menial 
occupations, and the name of only one, whose 
vocation was somewhat higher, has been handed 
down to the present time. This was Charles 
Richards, commonly called "Black Charley," who 
conducted an inn in the log house, at the north- 
west comer of Second and Ferry Streets. 

Among themselves the Germans and the French 
spoke the language of their fathers, but in their 
intercourse with their English-speaking neigh- 



40 Pittsburgh 

bors they used English. The language of the 
street varied from the English of New England 
and Virginia, to the brogue of the Irish and Scotch, 
or the broken enunciation of the newer Germans 
and French. Being in a majority the English- 
speaking population controlled to a considerable 
extent the destinies of the community. Their 
manufactories were the most extensive, the mer- 
chandise in their stores was in greater variety, 
and the stocks larger than those carried in other 
establishments. 

Next in numbers to those v/hose native language 
was English, were the German-speaking inhabit- 
ants. They constituted the skilled mechanics; 
some were merchants, and many were engaged in 
farming in the neighboring townships. They 
were all more or less closely connected with the 
German church. Only the names of their lead- 
ing men have survived the obliterating ravages 
of time. Among the mechanics of the higher class 
were Jacob Haymaker, William Eichbaum, and 
John Hamsher. The first was a boatbuilder, 
whose boatyard was located on the south side of 
the Monongahela River at the Middle Ferry; 



The Melting Pot 41 

Eichbaum was employed by O'Hara and Craig 
in the construction and operation of their glass 
works. John Hamsher was a coppersmith and 
tin-worker, whose diversion was to serve in the 
militia, in which he was captain. ^ 

Conrad Winebiddle, Jonas Roup, Alexander Neg- 
ley, and his son, Jacob Negley, were well-to-do 
farmers in Pitt Township. Winebiddle was a 
large holder of real estate, who died in 1795, and 
enjoyed the unique distinction of being the only 
German who ever owned negro slaves in Allegheny 
County. Nicholas Bausman and Melchoir Beltz- 
hoover were farmers in St. Clair Township; and 
Casper Reel was a farmer and trapper in Pine 
Township, where he was also tax collector. 
Samuel Ewalt kept a tavern in Pittsburgh in 1775, 
and was afterward a merchant. He was Sheriff 
of Allegheny County during the dark days of the 
Whisky Insurrection, and later was inspector of 
the Allegheny County brigade of militia. He was 
several times a member of the Pennsylvania House 
of Representatives. William Wusthoff was Sheriff 
of Allegheny County in 1801. Jacob Bausman 
had a varied career. He was a resident of Pitts- 



42 Pittsburgh 

burgh as far back as 1771, and was perhaps the 
most prominent German in the place. As a young 
man he was an ensign in the Virginia militia, dur- 
ing the Virginia contention. He established the 
first ferry on the Monongahela River, which ran 
to his house on the south side of the stream, where 
the southern terminus of the Smithfield Street 
bridge is now located. The right to operate the 
ferry was granted to him by the Virginia Court 
on February 23, 1775, and was confirmed by 
the General Assembly of Pennsylvania ten years 
later. At his ferry house he also conducted a 
tavern. His energies were not confined to his 
private affairs. Under the Act of the General 
Assembly incorporating Allegheny County, he 
was named as one of the trustees to select land 
for a court house in the tract reserved by the 
State, in Pine Township, and was again, under the 
Act of April 13, 1 79 1, made a trustee to purchase 
land in Pittsburgh for the same purpose. He was 
treasurer of the German church and, jointly with 
Jacob Haymaker, was trustee, on the part of the 
church, of the land deeded by the Penns to that 
congregation for church purposes at the northeast 



The Melting Pot 43 

corner of Smithfield and Sixth Streets, where the 
congregation's second and all subsequent churches 
were built. Michael Hufnagle was a member of 
the Allegheny County Bar, being one of the first 
ten men to be admitted to practice, upon the or- 
ganization of the county. He was the only lawyer 
of German nationality in the county. He had 
been a captain in the Revolution, and prothonotary 
of Westmoreland County. On July 13, 1782, 
when the Indians and Tories attacked Hannas- 
town, he occupied a farm situated a mile and a 
half north of that place, which has ever since 
been known in frontier history as the place where 
the townsfolk were harvesting when the attack 
began. "* 

By their English-speaking neighbors the Ger- 
mans were generally designated as "Dutch." In 
the references to them in the Pittsburgh Gazette and 
other early publications, they were likewise called 
"Dutch." Books printed in the German lan- 
guage were advertised as "Dutch" books. The 
custom of speaking of the Germans as "Dutch" 
was however not confined to Pittsburgh, but was 
universal in America. The Dutch inhabitants 



44 Pittsburgh 

of New York and elsewhere, were the first settlers 
in the colonies, whose language was other than 
English. The bulk of the English-speaking popu- 
lation, wholly ignorant of any language except their 
own, were easily led into the error of confusing 
the newer German immigrants with the Dutch, 
the only persons speaking a foreign tongue with 
whom they had come in contact. Nor were the 
uneducated classes the only transgressors in this 
respect. The Rev. Dr. William Smith, the schol- 
arly Provost of the College of Philadelphia, writing 
during the French and Indian War, spoke of the 
Germans as "the Dutch or Germans." ^ Also 
"Dutch" bears a close resemblance to "Deutsch," 
the German name for people of the German race, 
which may account, to some extent, for the misuse 
of the word. 

The Germans were in Pittsburgh to stay. 
Their efforts were directed largely toward private 
ends. When men of other blood made records 
in public life, the Germans made theirs in the 
limited sphere of their own employment or enter- 
prises. Owing to their inability to speak the 
English language, their position was more isolated. 



The Melting Pot 45 

than that of the greenest English-speaking immi- 
grant in the village. That they were clannish 
was a natural consequence. This disposition 
was accentuated when a newspaper printed in the 
German language was established on November 
22, 1800, in the neighboring borough of Greens- 
burgh, entitled The German Farmers' Register j 
being the first German paper published in the 
Western country. Subscriptions were received in 
Pittsburgh at the office of the Tree of Liberty, ^ then 
recently established, and the effort to acquire a 
knowledge of English in order to be able to read 
the news of the day in the Pittsburgh newspapers, 
was for the time being largely abandoned. As 
the Germans learned to speak and read English, 
their social intercourse was no longer restricted to 
persons of their own nationality. With the next 
generation, intermarriages with persons of other 
descent took place. The German language ceased 
to be cultivated; they forsook the German church 
for one where English was the prevailing language. 
It is doubtful if a single descendant of the old 
Germans is now able to speak the language of 
his forbears unless it was learned at school, or that 



46 Pittsburgh 

he is a member of or attends the services of the 
German church. 

The French element was an almost negligible 
quantity, yet it exerted an influence far beyond 
what might be expected when its numbers are 
considered. So strong was the tide of public 
opinion in favor of all things French, occasioned 
by the events of the French Revolution, that Albert 
Gallatin, a French-Swiss, who had just been natur- 
alized, and still spoke English with a decided for- 
eign accent, attained high political honors. To 
the people he was essentially a Frenchman, and 
in 1794, he was elected to the Pennsylvania House 
of Representatives, from Fayette County where he 
lived. At the same time he was elected to Con- 
gress from the district consisting of Allegheny and 
Washington Counties; and was twice re-elected 
from the same district, which included Greene 
County after the separation from Washington 
County in 1796, and its erection into a separate 
county. It was while serving this constituency 
that Gallatin developed those powers in finance 
and statesmanship which caused his appointment 
as Secretary of the Treasury by President Jeffer- 



The Melting Pot 47 

son, and by Jefferson's successor, President Mad- 
ison. From the politicians of this Congressional 
District, Gallatin learned those lessons in diplo- 
macy which enabled him, while joint commissioner 
of the United States, to secure the signature of Eng- 
land to the Treaty of Ghent, by which the War 
of 1 8 12 was brought to a close, and which led to 
his becoming United States Minister to France 
and to England. The training of those early days 
finally made him the most famous of all Ameri- 
cans of European birth, and brought about his 
nomination for Vice-President by the Congres- 
sional caucus of the Republican party, an honor 
which he first accepted, but later declined. ^ 

Another prominent Frenchman was John B. C. 
Lucus. In 1796, he lived on a farm on Coal Hill 
on the south side of the Monongahela River, in 
St. Clair Township, five miles above Pittsburgh. 
It was said of him that he was an atheist and that 
his wife plowed on Sundays, in spite of which he 
was several times elected to the General Assembly. ^ 
In 1800, he was appointed an associate judge for 
the county. He quarrelled with Alexander Addi- 
son, the president judge of the judicial district to 



48 Pittsburgh 

which Allegheny County was attached, yet he had 
sufficient standing in the State to cause Judge 
Addison's impeachment and removal from the 
Bench. In 1802, Lucas was elected to Congress 
and was re-elected in 1804. In 1805, he was ap- 
pointed United States District Judge for the new 
Territory of Louisiana, now the State of Missouri. 
Dr. Felix Brimot arrived in Pittsburgh in 1797. 
He came from France with Lafayette and was a 
surgeon in the Revolutionary War and fought in 
many of its battles. His office was located on 
Liberty Street, although he owned and lived on 
Brunot Island. An emigre, the Chevalier Dubac, 
was a merchant. ' Dr. F. A. Michaux, the French 
naturalist and traveler, related of Dubac i^" "I 
frequently saw M. Le Chevalier Dubac, an old 
French officer who, compelled by the events of the 
Revolution to quit France, settled in Pittsburgh 
where he engaged in commerce. He possesses 
very correct knowledge of the Western country, 
and is perfectly acquainted with the navigation of 
the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, having made 
several voyages to New Orleans." Morgan Ne- 
ville a son of Colonel Presley Neville, and a writer 



The Melting Pot 49 

of acknowledged ability, drew a charming picture 
of Dubac's life in Pittsburgh. ' ^ 

Perhaps the best known Frenchman in Pitts- 
burgh was John Marie, the proprietor of the tavern 
on Grant's Hill. Grant's Hill was the eminence 
which adjoined the town on the east, the ascent 
to the hill beginning a short distance west of Grant 
Street. The tavern was located just outside of 
the borough limits, at the northeast corner of 
Grant Street and the Braddocksfield Road, where 
it connected with Fourth Street. The inclosure 
contained more than six acres, and was called 
after the place of its location, "Grant's Hill." 
It overlooked Pittsburgh, and its graveled walks 
and cultivated grounds were the resort of the 
townspeople. For many years it was the leading 
tavern. Gallatin, who was in Pittsburgh, in 1787, 
while on the way from New Geneva to Maine, 
noted in his diary that he passed Christmas Day 
at Marie's house, in company with Brackenridge 
and Peter Audrian,^^ a well-known French mer- 
chant on Water Street. Marie's French nation- 
ality naturally led him to become a Republican 
when the party was formed, and his tavern was 



50 Pittsburgh 

long the headquarters of that party. Numerous 
Republican plans for defeating their opponents 
originated in Marie's house, and many Republican 
victories were celebrated in his rooms. Also in 
this tavern the general meetings of the militia 
officers were held. ^^ Michaux has testified that 
Marie kept a good inn. ^^ The present court house, 
the combination court house and city hall now 
being erected, and a small part of the South School, 
the first public school in Pittsburgh, occupy the 
larger portion of the site of "Grant's Hill." 

Marie's name became well known over the State, 
several years after he retired to private life. He 
was seventy-five years of age in 1802, when he 
discontinued tavern-keeping and sold "Grant's 
Hill" to James Ross, United States Senator from 
Pennsylvania, who was a resident of Pittsburgh. 
Marie had been estranged from his wife for a 
number of years and by some means she obtained 
possession of "Grant's Hill," of which Ross had 
difficulty in dispossessing her. In 1808, Ross was 
a candidate for governor against Simon Snyder. 
Ross's difference with Mrs. Marie, whose husband 
had by this time divorced her, came to the 



The Melting Pot 51 

knowledge of William Duane in Philadelphia, the 
brilliant but unscrupulous editor of the Aurora 
since the discontinuance of the National Gazette, 
in 1793, the leading radical Republican newspaper 
in the country. The report was enlarged into a 
scandal of great proportions both in the Aurora 
and in a pamphlet prepared by Duane and circu- 
lated principally in Philadelphia. The title of 
the pamphlet was harrowing. It was called "The 
Case of Jane Marie, Exhibiting the Cruelty and 
Barbarous Conduct of James Ross to a Defence- 
less Woman, Written and Published by the Object 
of his Cruelty and Vengeance." Although Marie 
was opposed to Ross politically, he defended his 
conduct toward Mrs. Marie as being perfectly hon- 
orable. Nevertheless, the pamphlet played an im- 
portant part in obtaining for Snyder the majority of 
twenty-four thousand by which he defeated Ross. 
Notwithstanding the high positions which some 
of the Frenchmen attained, they left no per- 
manent impression in Pittsburgh. After pros- 
pering there for a few years, they went away and 
no descendants of theirs reside in the city unless 
it be some of the descendants of Dr. Brunot. 



52 Pittsburgh 

Some went south to the Louisiana country, and 
others returned to France. Gallatin, himself, 
long after he had shaken the dust of Western 
Pennsylvania from his feet, writing about his 
grandson, the son of his son James, said: "He is 
the only young male of my name, and I have hesi- 
tated whether, with a view to his happiness, I had 
not better take him to live and die quietly at 
Geneva, rather than to leave him to struggle in 
this most energetic country, where the strong in 
mind and character overset everybody else, and 
where consideration and respectability are not at 
all in proportion to virtue and modest merit." ''^ 
And the grandson went to Geneva to live, and 
his children were born there and he died there. ^ ^ 

The United States Government was still in 
the formative stage. Until this time the men who 
had fought the Revolutionary War to a successful 
conclusion, held a tight rein on the governmental 
machinery. Now a new element was growing up, 
and, becoming dissatisfied with existing conditions, 
organized for a conflict with the men in power. 
The rise of the opposition to the Federal party was 
also the outcome of existing social conditions. Like. 



The Melting Pot 53 

the modern cry against consolidated wealth, the 
movement was a contest by the discontented 
elements in the population, of the men who had 
little against those who had more. Abuses com- 
mitted by individuals and conditions common to 
new countries were magnified into errors of govern- 
ment. Also the people were influenced by the 
radicalism superinduced by the French Revolution 
and the subsequent happenings in France. "Lib- 
erty, fraternity, and equality" were enticing 
catchwords in the United States. 

Thomas Jefferson, on his return from France, 
in 1789, after an absence of six years, where he 
had served as United States Minister, during the 
development of French radicalism, came home 
much strengthened in his ideas of liberty. They 
were in strong contrast with the more conserva- 
tive notions of government entertained by Wash- 
ington, Vice-President Adams, Hamilton, and the 
other members of the Cabinet. In March, 1790, 
Jefferson became Secretary of State in Washing- 
ton's first Cabinet, the appointment being held 
open for him since April 13th of the preceding 
year, when Washington entered on the duties of 



54 Pittsburgh 

the Presidency. Jefferson's views being made 
public, he immediately became the deity of the 
radical element. At the close of 1793, the dis- 
sensions in the Cabinet had become so acute that 
on December 31st Jefferson resigned in order to 
be better able to lead the new party which was 
being formed. By this element the Federalists 
were termed "aristocrats," and "tones." They 
were charged with being traitors to their country, 
and were accused of being in league with England, 
and to be plotting for the establishment of a 
monarchy, and an aristocracy. The opposition 
party assumed the title of "Republican." Later 
the word "Democratic" was prefixed and the 
party was called "Democratic Republican, "' ^ 
although in Pittsburgh for many years the words 
"Republican," "Democratic Republican," and 
"Democratic" were used interchangeably. 

Heretofore Pennsylvania had been staunchly 
Federal. On the organization of the Republican 
party, Governor Thomas Mifflin, and Chief Justice 
Thomas McKean of the Supreme Court, the two 
most popular men in the State, left the Federal 
party and became Republicans. There was also 



The Melting Pot 55 

a cause peculiar to Pennsylvania, for the rapid 
growth of the Republican party in the State. The 
constant increase in the backwoods population 
consisted largely of emigrants from Europe, 
chiefly from Ireland, who brought with them a 
bitter hatred of England and an intense admira- 
tion for France. They went almost solidly into 
the Republican camp. The arguments of the 
Republicans had a French revolutionary coloring 
mingled with which were complaints caused by 
failure to realize expected conditions. An address 
published in the organ of the Republican party in 
Pittsburgh is a fair example of the reasoning em- 
ployed in advocacy of the Republican candidates: 
"Albert Gallatin, the friend of the people, the 
enemy of tyrants, is to be supported on Tuesday, 
the 14th of October next, for the Congress of the 
United States. Fellow citizens, ye who are op- 
posed to speculators, land jobbers, public plun- 
derers, high taxes, eight per cent, loans, and 
standing armies, vote for Mr. Gallatin! "^^ 

In Pittsburgh the leader of the Republicans was 
Hugh Henry Brackenridge, the lawyer and dilet- 
tante in literature. In the fierce invective of the 



56 Pittsburgh 

time, he and all the members of his party were 
styled by their opponents "Jacobins," after the 
revolutionary Jacobin Club of France, to which 
all the woes of the Terror were attributed. The 
Pittsburgh Gazette referred to Brackenridge as 
"Citizen Brackenridge," and after the establish- 
ment of the Tree of Liberty, added "Jacobin printer 
of the Tree of Sedition, Blasphemy, and Slander." ^^ 
But the Republicans gloried in titles borrowed from 
the French Revolution. The same year that Gov- 
ernor Mifflin and Chief Justice McKean went over 
to the Republicans, Brackenridge made a Fourth 
of July address in Pittsburgh, in which he advo- 
cated closer relations with France. This was 
republished in New York by the Republicans, in 
a pamphlet, along with a speech made by Maxi- 
milien Robespierre in the National Convention of 
France. In this pamphlet Brackenridge was 
styled ' ' Citizen Brackenridge. " " " The Pittsburgh 
Gazette and the Tree of Liberty, contained numerous 
references to meetings and conferences held at 
the tavern of "Citizen" Marie. On March 4, 
1802, the first anniversary of the inauguration of 
Jefferson as President, a dinner was given by the 



The Melting Pot 57 

leading Republicans in the tavern of "Citizen" 
Jeremiah Sturgeon, at the "Sign of the Cross 
Keys," at the northwest comer of Wood Street 
and Diamond Alley, at which toasts were drunk 
to "Citizen" Thomas Jefferson, "Citizen" Aaron 
Burr, "Citizen" James Madison, "Citizen" Albert 
Gallatin, and "Citizen" Thomas McKean."^ 

In 1799, the Republicans had as their candidate 
for governor Chief Justice McKean. Opposed 
to him was Senator James Ross. Ross was re- 
quired to maintain a defensive campaign. The 
fact that he was a Federalist was alone sufficient 
to condemn him in the eyes of many of the electors. 
He was accused of being a follower of Thomas 
Paine, and was charged with "singing psalms 
over a card table." It was said that he had 
"mimicked" the Rev. Dr. John McMillan, the 
pioneer preacher of Presbyterianism in Western 
Pennsylvania, and a politician of no mean in- 
fluence; that he had "mocked" the Rev. Matthew 
Henderson, a prominent minister of the Associate 
Presbyterian Church. ^^ Although Allegheny 
County gave Ross a majority of over eleven 
hundred votes, he was defeated in the State by 



58 Pittsburgh 

more than seventy-nine hundred. ^^ McKean took 
office on December 17, 1799,^'' and the next day- 
he appointed Brackenridge a justice of the Supreme 
Court. All but one or two of the county offices 
were filled by appointment of the governor, who 
could remove the holders at pleasure. The idea 
of public offices being public trusts had not been 
formulated. The doctrine afterward attributed 
to Andrew Jackson, that "to the victors belong 
the spoils of office, " was already a dearly cherished 
principle of the Republicans, and Judge Bracken- 
ridge was not an exception to his party. Hardly 
had he taken his seat on the Supreme Bench, when 
he induced Governor McKean to remove from 
office the Federalist prothonotary, James Brison, 
who had held the position since September 26, 
1788, two days after the organization of the county. 
Brison was very popular. As a young man, he 
had lived at Hannastown, and during the attack 
of the British and Indians on the place had been 
one of the men sent on the dangerous errand of 
reconnoitering the enemy, ^s jje was now captain 
of the Pittsburgh Troop of Light Dragoons, the 
crack company in the Allegheny County brigade 



The Melting Pot 59 

of militia, and was Secretary of the Board of 
Trustees of the Academy. He was a society 
leader and generally managed the larger social 
functions of the town. General Henry Lee, the 
Governor of Virginia, famous in the annals of the 
Revolutionary War, as "Light-Horse Harry Lee," 
commanded the expedition sent by President 
Washington to suppress the Whisky Insurrection, 
and was in Pittsburgh several weeks during that 
memorable campaign. On the eve of his departure 
a ball was given in his honor by the citizens. On 
that occasion Brison was master of ceremonies. 
A few months earlier Brackenridge had termed 
him "a puppy and a coxcomb." Brackenridge 
credited Brison with retaliating for the epithet, 
by neglecting to provide his wife and himself with 
an invitation to the ball. This was an additional 
cause for his dismissal, and toward the close of 
January the office was given to John C. Gilkison. 
Gilkison who was a relative of Brackenridge, con- 
ducted the book-store and library which he had 
■ opened the year before, and also followed the 
occupation of scrivener, preparing such legal papers 
as were demanded of him.^^ 



REFERENCES 
Chapter III 

* Pittsburgh Gazette, January 23, 1801. 

' CoLLiNSON Read. An Abridgment of the Laws of Pennsyl- 
vania, Philadelphia, MDCCCI, pp. 264-269. 

3 Pittsburgh Gazette, December 7, 1799. 

4 Neville B. Craig. The Olden Thne, Pittsburgh, 1848, 

vol. ii., pp. 354-355- 
s A Brief State of the Province of Pennsylvania, London, 1 75 5, 
p. 12. 

* Tree of Liberty, December 27, 1800. 

7 John Austin Stevens. Albert Gallatin,'Boston,i2,gz,-g. 2,70. 

* Major Ebenezer Denny. Military Journal, Philadelphia, 

1859, p. 21. 
9 Pittsburgh Gazette, October 23, 1801. 

" Dr. F. a. Michaux, Travels to the Westward of the Alle- 
ghany Mountains in the Year 1802, London, 1805, p. 36. 

" Morgan Neville. In John F. Watson's Annals of Phila- 
delphia and Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 1891, vol. ii., 
pp. 132-135- 

^' Henry Adams. The Life of Albert Gallatin, Philadelphia, 
1880, p. 68. 

13 Tree of Liberty, November 7, 1800; Pittsburgh Gazette, Febru- 
ary 20, 1 801. 

'^ Dr. F. a. Michaux. Travels to the Westward of the Alle- 
ghany Mountains in the Year 1802, London, 1805, p. 29. 

15 Henry Adams. The Life of Albert Gallatin, Philadelphia, 
1880, p. 650. 

'* Count De Gallatin. "A Diary of James Gallatin in Europe"; 
Scribner^s Magazine, New York, vol. Ivi., September, 
1914. PP- 350-351- 

60 



The Melting Pot 6i 

Richard Hildreth. The History of the United States of 

America, New York, vol. iv., p. 425. 
Tree of Liberty, September 27, 1800. 
Pittsburgh Gazette, February 6, 1801. 
Political Miscellany, New York, 1793, pp. 27-31. 
Tree of Liberty, March 13, 1802. 
Tree of Liberty, September 19, 1801. 
Pittsburgh Gazette, October 26, 1799. 
William C. Armor. Lives of the Governors of Pennsylvania, ' 

Philadelphia, 1873, P- 289. 
Neville B. Craig. The Olden Time, Pittsburgh, 1848, 

vol. ii., p. 355. 
H. M. Brackenridge. Recollections of Persons and Places 

in the West, Philadelphia, 1868, p. 68; Pittsburgh Gazette, 

December 29, 1798. 



CHAPTER IV 

LIFE AT THE BEGINNING OF THE NINETEENTH 
CENTURY 

THE Pittsburgh Gazette was devoted to the 
interests of the Federal party, and Brack- 
enridge and the other leading Republicans 
felt the need of a newspaper of their own. The 
result was the establishment on August i6, 1800, 
of the Tree of Liberty, by John Israel, who was al- 
ready publishing a newspaper, called the Herald 
of Liberty, in Washington, Pennsylvania. The 
title of the new paper was intended to typify its 
high mission. The significance of the name was 
further indicated in the conspicuously displayed 
motto, "And the leaves of the tree were for the 
healing of the nations." The Federalists, and 
more especially their organ, the Pittsburgh Gazette, ^ 
charged Brackenridge with being the owner of 

62 



At Beginning of Nineteenth Century 63 

the new paper, and with being responsible for its 
utterances. Brackenridge, however, has left a 
letter in which he refuted this statement, and 
alleged that originally he intended to establish a 
newspaper, but on hearing of Israel's intention 
gave up the idea. ^ 

The extent of the comforts and luxuries enjoyed 
in Pittsburgh was surprising. The houses, whether 
built of logs, or frame, or brick, were comfortable, 
even in winter. In the kitchens were large open 
fire-places, where wood was burned. The best 
coal fuel was plentiful. Although stoves were 
invented barely half a century earlier, and were in 
general use only in the larger cities, the houses 
in Pittsbiu-gh could already boast of many. There 
were cannon stoves, so called because of their 
upright cylindrical, cannon-like shape, and Frank- 
lin or open stoves, invented by Benjamin Franklin ; 
the latter graced the parlor. Grates were giving 
out their cheerful blaze. They were also in use 
in some of the rooms of the new court house, and 
in the new jail. 

The advertisements of the merchants told the 
story of what the people ate and drank, and of the 



64 Pittsburgh 

materials of which their clothing was made. Arti- 
cles of food were in great variety. In the stores 
were tea, coffee, red and sugar almonds, olives, 
chocolate, spices of all kinds, muscatel and keg 
raisins, dried peas, and a score of other luxuries, 
besides the ordinary articles of consumption. The 
gentry of England, as pictured in the pages of the 
old romances, did not have a greater variety of 
liquors to drink. There were Madeira, sherry, 
claret, Lisbon, port, and Teneriffe wines, French 
and Spanish brandies, ^ Jamaica and antique 
spirits.'* Perrin DuLac, who visited Pittsburgh 
in 1802, said these liquors were the only articles 
sold in the town that were dear.^ But not all 
partook of the luxuries. Bread and meat, and such 
vegetables as were grown in the neighborhood, 
constituted the staple articles of food, and home- 
made whisky was the ordinary drink of the major- 
ity of the population. The native fruits were 
apples and pears, which had been successfully 
propagated since the early days of the English 
occupation.^ 

Materials for men's and women's clothing were 
endless in variety and design and consisted of 



At Beginning of Nineteenth Century 65 

cloths, serges, flannels, brocades, jeans, fustians, 
Irish linens, cambrics, lawns, nankeens, ging- 
hams, muslins, calicos, and chintzes. Other 
articles were tamboured petticoats, tamboured 
cravats, silk and cotton shawls, wreaths and 
plumes, sunshades and parasols, black silk netting 
gloves, white and salmon-colored long and short 
gloves, kid and morocco shoes and slippers, men's 
beaver, tanned, and silk gloves, men's cotton and 
thread caps, and silk and cotton hose. 

Men were changing their dress along with their 
political opinions. One of the consequences in 
the United States of the French Revolution was 
to cause the effeminate and luxurious dress in 
general use to give way to simpler and less extra- 
vagant attire. The rise of the Republican party 
and the class distinctions which it was responsible 
for engendering, more than any other reason, 
caused the men of affairs — the merchants, the 
manufacturers, the lawyers, the physicians, and 
the clergymen — to discard the old fashions and 
adopt new ones. Cocked hats gave way to soft 
or stiff hats, with low square crowns and straight 
brims. The fashionable hats were the beaver 



66 Pittsburgh 

made of the fur of the beaver, the castor made of 
silk in imitation of the beaver, and the roram 
made of felt, with a facing of beaver fur felted in. 
Coats of blue, green, and buff, and waistcoats of 
crimson, white, or yellow, were superseded by 
garments of soberer colors. Coats continued to 
be as long as ever, but the tails were cut away in 
front. Knee-breeches were succeeded by tight- 
fitting trousers reaching to the ankles ; low-buckled 
shoes, by high-laced leather shoes, or boots. Men 
discontinued wearing cues, and their hair was cut 
short, and evenly around the head. There were 
of course exceptions. Many men of conservative 
temperament still clung to the old fashions. A no- 
table example in Pittsburgh was the Rev. Robert 
Steele, who always appeared in black satin knee- 
breeches, knee-buckles, silk stockings, and pumps. "^ 
• The farmers on the 'plantations surrounding 
Pittsburgh and the mechanics in the borough were 
likewise affected by the movement for dress re- 
form. Their apparel had always been less pictur- 
esque than that of the business and professional 
men. Now the ordinary dress of the farmers and 
mechanics consisted of short tight-fitting round- 



At Beginning of Nineteenth Century (i^ 

abouts, or sailor's jackets, made in winter of cloth 
or linsey, and in summer of nankeen, dimity, 
gingham, or linen. Sometimes the jacket was 
without sleeves, the shirt being heavy enough to 
afford protection against inclement weather. The 
trousers were loose-fitting and long, and extended 
to the ankles, and were made of nankeen, tow, or 
cloth. Some men wore blanket-coats. Overalls, 
of dimity, nankeen, and cotton, were the especial 
badge of mechanics. The shirt was of tow or 
coarse linen, the vest of dimity. On their feet, 
farmers and mechanics alike wore coarse high- 
laced shoes, half-boots, or boots made of neat's 
leather. The hats were soft, of fur or wool, and 
were low and round-crowned, or the crowns were 
high and square. 

The inhabitants of Pittsburgh were pleasure- 
loving, and the time not devoted to business 
was given over to the enjoyments of life. Men 
and women alike played cards. Whisk, as whist 
was called, and Boston were the ordinary games.' 
All classes and nationalities danced, and dancing 
was cultivated as an art. Dancing masters came 
to Pittsburgh to give instructions, and adults and 



68 Pittsburgh 

children alike took lessons. In winter public balls ■ 
and private assemblies were given. The dances 
were more pleasing to the senses than any ever 
seen in Pittsburgh, except the dances of the recent 
revival of the art. The cotillion was executed by 
an indefinite number of couples, who performed 
evolutions or figures as in the modern german. 
Other dances were the minuet, the menuet d la 
cour, and jigs. The country dance, generally per- 
formed by eight persons, four men and four 
women, comprised a variety of steps, and a sur- 
prising number of evolutions, of which liveliness 
was the characteristic. 

The taverns had rooms set apart for dances. 
The "Sign of the Green Tree,"!* had an "Assembly 
Room"; the "Sign of General Butler"^" and the 
"Sign of the Waggon"" each had a "Ball Room." 
The small affairs were given in the homes of the 
host or hostess, and the large ones in the taverns, 
or in the grand-jury room of the new court house. 

The dancing masters gave "Practicing Balls" 
at which the cotillion began at seven o'clock, and 
the ball concluded with the country dance, which 
was continued until twelve o'clock. ^^ Dancing 



At Beginning of Nineteenth Century 69 

became so popular and to such an extent were 
dancing masters in the eyes of the pubHc that 
William Irwin christened his race horse "Dancing 
Master." ^3 The ball given to General Lee was 
talked about for years after the occurrence. Its 
beauties were pictured by many fair lips. The 
ladies recalled the soldierly bearing of the guest 
of honor, the tall robust form of General Daniel 
Morgan, Lee's second in command, and the com- 
mander of the Virginia troops, famous as the hero 
of Quebec and Saratoga, who had received the 
thanks of Congress for his victory at Cowpens. 
They dwelt on the varicolored uniforms of the 
soldiers, the bright colors worn by the civilians, 
their powdered hair, the brocades, and silks, and 
velvets of the ladies. 

In winter evenings there were concerts and 
theatrical performances which were generally 
given in the new court house. A unique concert 
was that promoted by Peter Declary. It was 
heralded as a musical event of importance. Kotz- 
wara's The Battle of Prague, was performed on 
the "forte piano" by one of Declary 's pupils, 
advertised as being only eight years of age; Presi- 



70 Pittsburgh 

dent Jefferson's march was another conspicuous 
featiire. The exhibition concluded with a ball.^* 

Comedy predominated in the theatrical per- 
formances. The players were "the young gentle- 
men of the town." At one of the entertainments 
they gave John O'Keefe's comic opera The Poor 
Soldier, and a farce by Arthur Murphy called The 
Apprentice,''^ There were also performances of a 
more professional character. Bromley and Arnold, 
two professional actors, conducted a series of the- 
atrical entertainments extending over a period of 
several weeks. The plays which they rendered 
are hardly known to-day. At a single perform- 
ance^^ they gave a comedy entitled Trick upon 
Trick, or The Vintner in the Suds; a farce called 
The Jealous Husband, or The Lawyer in the Sack; 
and a pantomime, The Sailor^ s Landlady, or Jack 
in Distress. Another play in the series was 
Edward Moore's tragedy. The Gamester.'''' 

Much of Grant's Hill was unenclosed. Clumps 
of trees grew on its irregular surface, and there 
were level open spaces; and in summer the place 
was green with grass, and bushes grew in pro- 
fusion. Farther in the background were great 



At Beginrxing of Nineteenth Century 71 

forest trees. The hill was the pleasure ground of 
the village. Judge Henry M. Brackenridge, a son 
of Judge Hugh Henry Brackenridge dwelling on 
the past, declared that "it was pleasing to see the 
line of well-dressed ladies and gentlemen and 
children, . . . repairing to the beautiful green 
eminence."'^ On this elevation "under a bower, 
on the margin of a wood, and near a delightful 
spring, with the town of Pittsburgh in prospect," 
the Fourth of July celebrations were held."' On 
August 2, 1794, the motley army of Insurgents 
from Braddocksfield rested there, after having 
marched through the town. Here they were 
refreshed with food and whisky, in order that 
they might keep in good humor, and to prevent 
their burning the town.^" 

Samuel Jones has left an intimate, if some- 
what regretful account of the early social life of 
Pittsburgh. "The long winter evenings," he 
wrote, "were passed by the humble villagers at 
each other's homes, with merry tale and song, or 
in simple games; and the hours of night sped 
lightly onward with the unskilled, untiring youth, 
as they threaded the mazes of the dance, guided 



72 Pittsburgh 

by the music of the violin, from which some good- 
humored rustic drew his Orphean sounds. In the 
jovial time of harvest and hay-making, the sprightly 
and active of the village participated in the rural 
labors and the hearty pastimes, which distin- 
guished that happy season. The balls and merry- 
makings that were so frequent in the village were 
attended by all without any particular deference 
to rank or riches. No other etiquette than that 
which natural politeness prescribed was exacted 
or expected. . . . Young fellows might pay their 
devoirs to their female acquaintances; ride, 
walk, or talk with them, and pass hours in their 
society without being looked upon with suspi- 
cion by parents, or slandered by trolloping 
gossips." ^^ 

The event of autumn was the horse races, 
which lasted three days. They were held in the 
northeasterly extremity of the town between Lib- 
erty Street and the Allegheny River, ^^ and were 
conducted under the auspices of the Jockey Club 
which had been in existence for many years. 
Sportsmen came from all the surrounding country. 
The races were under the saddle, sulkies not having. 



At Beginning of Nineteenth Century 72> 

been invented. Racing proprieties were observed, 
and jockeys were required to be dressed in jockey 
habits.'' 3 Purses were given. The horses com- 
pared favorably with race horses of a much later 
day. A prominent horse was "Young Messenger" 
who was sired by "Messenger," the most famous 
trotting horse in America, which had been imported 
into Philadelphia from England in 1788, and was 
the progenitor of Rysdyk's Hambletonian, Ab- 
dallah, Goldsmith Maid, and a score of other 
noted race horses. 

A third of a century after the race course had 
been removed beyond the limits of the munici- 
pality. Judge Henry M. Brackenridge pubHshed 
his recollections of the entrancing sport. "It 
was then an affair of all-engrossing interest, and 
every business or pursuit was neglected. . . . The 
whole town was daily poured forth to witness the 
Olympian games. . . . The plain within the course 
and near it was filled with booths as at a fair, 
where everything was said, and done, and sold, 
and eaten or drunk, where every fifteen or twenty 
minutes there was a rush to some part, to witness 
a fisticuff — where dogs barked and bit, and horses 



74 Pittsburgh 

trod on men's toes, and booths fell down on people's 
heads! "^4 

The social instincts of the people found expres- 
sion in another direction. The Revolutionary 
War, the troubles with the Indians, the more or 
less strained relations existing between France and 
England, had combined to inbreed a military 
spirit. Pennsylvania, with a population, in 1800, 
of 602,365, had enrolled in the militia 88,707 of 
its citizens. The militia was divided into light 
infantry, riflemen, grenadiers, cavalry, and ar- 
tillery.^^ Allegheny County had a brigade of 
militia, consisting of eight regiments. ^^ The com- 
mander was General Alexander Fowler, an old 
Englishman who had served in America, in the 
1 8th, or Royal Irish, Regiment of Foot. On the 
breaking out of the Revolutionary War, he had 
resigned his commission on account of his sym- 
pathy with the Americans. Being unfit for active 
service, Congress appointed him Auditor of the 
Western Department at Pittsburgh. 

The militia had always been more or less per- 
meated with partisan politics. During the Revo- 
lution the American officers wore a cockade with 



At Beginning of Nineteenth Century 75 

a black ground and a white relief, called the black 
cockade. This the Federalists had made their 
party emblem. The Republican party, soon after 
its organization, adopted as a badge of party 
distinction a cockade of red and blue on a white 
base, the colors of revolutionary France. The red 
and blue cockade thereafter became the distin- 
guishing mark of the majority of the Pennsylvania 
militia, being adopted on the recommendation 
of no less a person than Governor McKean. 
General Fowler's advocacy of the red and blue 
cockade and his disparagement of the black 
cockade were incessant. He was an ardent 
Republican, and his effusions with their classic 
allusions filled many columns of the Tree of 
Liberty and the Pittsburgh Gazette. At a meeting 
of the Allegheny County militia held at Marie's 
tavern, the red and blue cockade had been adopted. 
Fowler claimed that this was the result of public 
sentiment. He was fond of platitudes. "The 
voice of the people is the voice of God," he quoted, 
crediting the proverb to an "English commen- 
tator," and adding: "Says a celebrated historian, 
^individuals may err, but the voice of the people 



76 Pittsburgh 

is infallible. '"^^ A strong minority in Allegheny- 
County remained steadfast to the Federal party, 
and the vote in favor of the adoption of the red 
and blue cockade was not unanimous. Two of 
the regiments, not to be engulfed in the growing 
wave of Republicanism, or overawed by the domi- 
neering disposition of General Fowler, opposed 
the adoption of the red and blue cockade, and 
chose the black cockade. ^^ 

The equipment furnished to the militia by the 
State was meagre, but the patriotism which had 
so lately won the country's independence was still 
at flood tide, and each regiment was supplied 
with two silk standards. One was the national 
flag, the other the regimental colors. The 
national emblem differed somewhat from the regu- 
lation United States flag. The word "Pennsyl- 
vania" appeared on the union, with the number 
of the regiment, the whole being encircled by 
thirteen white stars. The fly of the regimental 
colors was dark blue ; on this was painted an eagle 
with extended wings supporting the arms of the 
State. The union was similar to that of the 
national flag. The prescribed uniform which 



At Beginning of Nineteenth Century 77 

many of the men, however, did not possess, was a 
blue coat faced with red, with a lining of white or 
red. In Allegheny County a round hat with the 
cockade and buck's tail, was worn.^^ • The parade 
ground of the militia was the level part of Grant's 
Hill which adjoined Marie's tavern on the north- 
east. Here twice each year, in April and October, 
the militia received its training. Of no minor 
interest, was the social life enjoyed by officers and 
men alike, during the annual assemblages. 

In the territory contiguous to Pittsburgh the 
uprising, for the right to manufacture whisky 
without paying the excise, had its inception. 
That taverns should abound in the town was 
a natural consequence. In 1808 the public 
could be accommodated at twenty-four different 
taverns. 3° The annual license fee for taverns, 
including the clerk's charges, was barely twenty 
dollars. Through some mental legerdemain 
of the lawmakers it had been enacted that if 
more than a quart was sold no license was re- 
quired. Liquors, and particularly whisky, were 
sold in nearly every mercantile establishment. 
Also beer had been brewed in Pittsburgh since an 



y 



78 Pittsburgh 

early day, at the "Point Brewery," which was 
purchased in 1795 by Smith and Shiras.^^ Beer 
was Hkewise brewed in a small way by James Yea- 
man, two or three years later. ^^ In February, 
1803, O'Hara and Coppinger, who had acquired 
the "Point Brewery," began brewing beer on a 
larger scale. ^^ 

In the taverns men met to consummate their 
business, and to discuss their political and social 
affairs. Lodge No. 45 of Ancient York Masons 
met in the taverns for many years, as did the Me- 
chanical Society. Even the Board of Trustees of 
the Academy held their meetings there. ^-^ Re- 
ligion itself, looked with a friendly eye on the 
taverns. In the autumn of 1785, the Rev. Wilson 
Lee, a Methodist missionary, appeared in Pitts- 
burgh, and preached in John Ormsby's tavern, ^^ 
on Water Street, at his ferry landing, ^^ at 
what is now the northeast corner of that street 
and Ferry Street. This was the same double 
log house which, while conducted by Samuel 
Semple, was in 1770 patronized by Colonel 
George Washington. ^ 7 

Tavern keeping and liquor selling were of such 



At Beginning of Nineteenth Century 79 

respectability that many of the most esteemed 
citizens were, or had been tavern-keepers, or had 
sold liquors, or distilled whisky, or brewed beer. 
Jeremiah Sturgeon was a member of the session 
of the Presbyterian Church. ^^ John Reed, the 
proprietor of the "Sign of the Waggon," in ad- 
dition to being a leading member of the Jockey 
Club, and the owner of the race horse "Young 
Messenger," 39 was precentor in the Presbyterian 
Church, and on Sundays "Hned out the hymns" 
and led the singing. 4° The pew of William Mor- 
row is marked on the diagram of the ground-plan 
of the chui'ch as printed in its Centennial Volume J'^ 
The "Sign of the Cross Keys," the emblem of 
Sturgeon's tavern, was of religious origin and was 
much favored in England. Although used by a 
Presbyterian, it was the arms of the Papal See, 
and the emblem of St. Peter and his successors. 
That the way to salvation lay through the door 
of the tavern, would seem to have been intended 
to be indicated by the "Sign of the Cross Keys." 
William Eichbaum, a pillar in the German church, 
after he left the employ of O'Hara and Craig, 
conducted a tavern on Front Street, near Market, 



8o Pittsburgh 

at the "Sign of the Indian Queen." The owners 
of the ferries kept taverns in connection with their 
ferries. Ephraim Jones conducted a tavern at his 
ferry landing on the south side of the Mononga- 
hela River; Robert Henderson had a tavern on 
Water Street at his ferry landing ; Samuel Emmett 
kept a tavern at his landing on the south side of 
the Monongahela River ; and James Robinson had 
a tavern on the Franklin Road at the northerly 
terminus of his ferry. '^^ 

Drinking was universal among both men and 
women. Judge James Veech declared that whisky 
"was the indispensable emblem of hospitality and 
the accompaniment of labor in every pursuit, 
the stimulant in joy and the solace in grief. It 
was kept on the counter of every store and in the 
corner cupboard of every well-to-do family. The 
minister partook of it before going to church, and 
after he came back. At home and abroad, at 
marryings and buryings, at house raisings and 
log rollings, at harvestings and huskings, it was 
the omnipresent beverage of old and young, men 
and women; and he was a churl who stinted it. 
To deny it altogether required more grace or 



At Beginning of Nineteenth Century 8i 

niggardliness than most men could command, at 
least for daily use."'* 3 

A practical joke perpetrated by the Rev. Dr. 
John McMillan, on the Rev. Joseph Patterson, an- 
other of the early ministers in this region, illus- 
trates the custom of drinking among the clergy. 
On their way to attend a meeting of the Synod, 
the two men stopped at a wayside inn and called 
for whisky, which was set before them. Mr. Pat- 
terson asked a blessing which was rather lengthy. 
Dr. McMillan meanwhile drank the whisky, and 
to Mr. Patterson's blank look remarked blandly, 
"You must watch as well as pray!"'''' 

Families purchased whisky and laid it away in 
their cellars for future consumption, and that it 
might improve with age. Judge Hugh Henry 
Brackenridge declared that the visit of the " Whisky 
Boys" — as the Insurgents from Braddocksfield 
were called — to Pittsburgh cost him "four barrels 
of old whisky." "f^ The statement caused Henry 
Adams, in his life of Albert Gallatin, to volunteer 
the assertion that it nowhere appeared "how 
much whisky the western gentleman usually kept 
in his house." ''^ 



82 Pittsburgh 

There was no legislation against selling liquors 
on Sundays. The only law on the subject was an 
old one under which persons found drinking and 
tippling in ale-houses, taverns, and other public 
houses on Sundays, were liable to be fined one 
shilling and sixpence; and the keepers of the 
houses upon conviction were required to pay ten 
shillings. The line of demarcation between 
proper and improper drinking being faint, the 
law proved ineffectual to prevent drinking on 
Sundays. 

'< Religion had not kept pace with material pro- 
gress. The people had been too much engrossed 
in secular affairs to attend to spiritual matters. 
They were withal generous, and practiced the 
Christian virtues ; and never failed to help their un- 
fortunate neighbors. This disposition was mani- 
fested in various ways. Losses by fire were of 
frequent occurrence and were apt to cause distress 
or ruin to those affected. In these cases the citi- 
zens always furnished relief. An instance where 
this was done was in the case of William Thorn. 
Thorn was a cabinet-maker on Market Street, 
and built windmills and Dutch fans.'*'' When 



At Beginning of Nineteenth Century 83 

the house which he occupied was burned to the 
ground and he lost all his tools and valuable 
ready-made furniture, a liberal subscription was 
made by the citizens, and he was enabled to 
again commence his business.''^ 

But there was little outward observance of re- 
ligious forms. The Germans had made some pro- 
gress in that direction. The little log building 
where they worshipped had been succeeded by a 
brick chiirch. The only English church was the 
Presbyterian Meeting House facing on Virgin 
Alley, now Oliver Avenue, erected in 1786. It 
was the same building of squared timbers in which 
the congregation had orginally worshipped. From 
1789 to 1793, the church had languished greatly. 
There was no regular pastor; services were held 
at irregular and widely separated intervals. Two 
of the men who served as supplies left the ministry 
and became lawyers."*^ From 1793 to 1800, the 
church was all but dead. The house was deserted 
and falling into ruin. Only once, so far as there 
is any record, were Presbyterian services held in 
the building during this period. It was in 1799 
that the Rev. Francis Herron, passing through 



84 Pittsburgh 

Pittsburgh, was induced to deliver a sermon to a 
congregation consisting of fifteen or eighteen per- 
sons "much to the annoyance of the swallows," 
as Herron ingenuously related, which had taken 
possession of the premises.^" 

A light had flashed momentarily in the darkness 
when John Wrenshall, the father of Methodism in 
Pittsburgh, settled in the town. Wrenshall was 
an Englishman who came to Pittsburgh in 1796 
and established a mercantile business. He was 
converted to Wesleyanism in England and had 
been a local preacher there. As there was no 
minister or preaching of any kind in Pittsburgh, 
he commenced holding services in the Presbyterian 
Meeting House. His audiences increased, but 
after a few Sundays of active effort, a padlock 
was placed on the door of the church, and he 
was notified that the house was no longer at 
his disposal. The Presbyterians might not hold 
services themselves, but they would not permit 
the use of their building to adherents of the 
new sect of Methodists, "the offspring of the 
devil." 

A great religious revival swept over the Western. 



At Beginning of Nineteenth Century 85 

country in the concluding years of the eighteenth 
century. In Kentucky it developed into hys- 
teria, ^^ and in Western Pennsylvania the display 
of religious fervor was scarcely less intense. ^^ 
The effect was felt in Pittsburgh. On October 
24, 1800, the Pittsburgh Gazette was moved to 
ask the Presbyterian congregation, of which its 
proprietor was a leading member, a number of 
pertinent questions: Could they hope for good 
morals without religion or the fear of God; could 
religion be maintained without public worship; 
had they a house in which public worship could 
be performed with decency and convenience? 
Were they not able to erect a respectable and com- 
modious church building, as well as to provide 
for the maintenance of a minister? Would not 
money so employed "be more for the benefit of 
the town than horse racing, billiard playing, etc., 
etc.?" The answer of the congregation was to 
procure the appointment of the Rev. Robert 
Steele as supply and the church began to show 
signs of life again. In April, 1802, Steele was 
received as a member of the Presbytery, the action 
being approved by the Synod in the following 



86 Pittsburgh 

September. S3 From that time forward, the church 
began that spiritual and material advancement 
— although there were ebbs and flows in its pro- 
gress — which has continued to this day. 



I 



REFERENCES 
Chapter IV 

^ Pittsburgh Gazette, November 28, 1800. 

* Tree of Liberty, August 23, 1800. 

3 Pittsburgh Gazette, October 10, 1800. 

f Pittsburgh Gazette, November 2, 1793. 

s Perrin DuLac. Voyage dans les Deux Louisianes, Lyon, 
an xiii. [1805], p. 131. 

fi H. H. Brackenridge. Gazette Publications, Carlisle, 1806, 
p. 12. 

1 Centennial Volume of the First Presbyterian Church of Pitts- 
burgh, Pa., Pittsburgh, 18S4, P- I54' 

8 Charles J. Sherrill. "Dancing and Other Social Customs," 

Scribner's Magazine, New York, April, 1915, vol. Ivii., 
pp. 479-490. 

9 Pittsburgh Gazette, October 20, 1798. 
" Pittsburgh Gazette, January 3, 1800. 

^' Pittsburgh Gazette, October 29, 1802; Pittsburgh Gazette, 

August 25, 1798. 
" Pittsburgh Gazette, October 20, 1798. 
^3 Pittsburgh Gazette, September 25, 1801. 
^^ Pittsburgh Gazette, November 6, 1801. 
^s Tree of Liberty, February 19, 1803. 
'^ Pittsburgh Gazette, January 7, 1803. 
^^ Pittsburgh Gazette, January 21, 1803, 
'* H. M. Brackenridge. Recollections of Persons and Places 

in the West, Philadelphia, 1868, p. 60. 
^9 Tree of Liberty, July 11, 1801; Pittsburgh Gazette, July 13, 

1793- 
"" H. H. Brackenridge. Incidents of the Insurrection in the 

Western Parts of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 1795, p. 66. 
87 



88 Pittsburgh 

»' S. Jones. Pittsburgh in the Year 1826, Pittsburgh, 1826, 

pp. 43-44. 
'^ H. M. Brackenridge. Recollections of Persons and Places 

in the West, Philadelphia, 1868, p. 62. 
"3 Pittsburgh Gazette, September 9, 1786. 
24 H. M. Brackenridge. Recollections of Persons and Places 

in the West, Philadelphia, 1868, p. 62. 
=^5 Pittsburgh Gazette, May 28, 1802. 
*^ Pittsburgh Gazette, September 25, 1801. 
27 Tree of Liberty, April 11, 1801. 

"* Tree of Liberty, April 11, 1801; ibid., January 9, 1802. 
*9 Tree of Liberty, December 27, 1800. 
3° P. Cuming. Sketches of a Tour to the Western Country in 

1807-1809, Pittsburgh, 1810, p. 222. 
31 Pittsburgh Gazette, November 14, 1795. 
3^ Pittsburgh Gazette, August 28, 1801; ibid., August 5, 1803. 

33 Pittsburgh Gazette, February 3, 1803. 

34 Pittsburgh Gazette, November 16, 1799; ibid., May 3, 1800; 

ibid., November 26, 1802. 

3 5 Centennial Celebration of Pittsburgh Methodism, 1888, p. 63. 

3^ Pittsburgh Gazette, August 26, 1786. 

37 James Veech. "The. QecnlSiX'HistoTY," Centenary Memorial 
of the Planting and Growth of Presbyterianism in Western 
Pennsylvania and Parts Adjacent, Pittsburgh, 1876, p. 320. 

3* Centennial Volume of the First Presbyterian Church of Pitts- 
burgh, Pa., 1784-1884, Pittsburgh, 1884, p. 212. 

39 Pittsburgh Gazette, April 2, 1802. 

4° Centennial Volume of the First Presbyterian Church of Pitts- 
burgh, Pa., 1 784-1 884, Pittsburgh, 1884, p. 154. 

4' Centennial Volume of the First Presbyterian Church of Pitts- 
burgh, Pa., 1784-1884, Pittsburgh, 1884, p. 155. 

42 Pittsburgh Gazette, May 13, 1803. 

43 James Veech. "The QecnlsiT History," Centenary Memorial 

of the Planting and Growth of Presbyterianism in Western 
Pennsylvania and Parts Adjacent, Pittsburgh, 1876, p. 364. 

44 Rev. D. X. Junkin, D.D. "The Life and Labors of the 

Rev. John McMillan, D.D.," Centenary Memorial of the 
Planting and Growth of Presbyterianism in Western Penn- 
sylvania and Parts Adjacent, Pittsburgh, 1876, p. 33. 

45 H. H. Brackenridge. Incidents of the Insurrection in the 

Western Parts of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 1795, p. 71. 



At Beginning of Nineteenth Century 89 

■s* Henry Adams. The Life of Albert Galiatin, Philadelphia, 
1880, p. 130. 

47 Pittsburgh Gazette, December 12, 1800. 

4* Pittsburgh Gazette, February 27, 1801. 

49 Centennial Volume of the First Presbyterian Church of Pitts- 
burgh, Pa., 1784-1884, Pittsburgh, 1884, p. 28. 

so Rev. William M. Paxton. Two Discourses upon the Life 
and Character of the Rev. Francis Herron, D.D., Pittsburgh, 
1861, p. 28. 

SI Richard McNemar. The Kentucky Revival, Albany, 1808, 
pp. 9-72. 

s2 David Elliott. The Life of the Rev. Elisha Macurdy, Alle- 
gheny, 1848, pp. 55-78. 

S3 Centennial Volume of the First Presbyterian Church of Pitts- 
burgh, Pa., 1784-1884, Pittsburgh, 1884, p. 32. 



CHAPTER V 



THE SEAT OF POWER 



THE year 1800 ushered in more than a new 
century in Pittsburgh. It heralded the 
beginning of another era. The decade 
beginning with that year will ever be memorable 
in the annals of the city. During those ten years 
the foundation was laid on which the great in- 
dustrial city was subsequently built. In 1800 the 
population of Pittsburgh was 1565, and in 1810 
it had risen to 4768, an increase of 204 per centum, 
which was the greatest percentage of increase that 
has ever taken place in its history. This decade 
marked the dividing line between that which was 
obsolete and that which was newly-born. 

In 1803, Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of 
France, ceded to the United States the vast Lou- 
isiana Territory, whereby the area of this country 

90 



The Seat of Power 91 

was more than doubled, and commerce between 
Louisiana and Pittsburgh increased tremendously. 
As far back as 1791, Alexander Hamilton, the 
Secretary of the Treasury, had communicated to 
the House of Representatives his famous report 
of manufactures. In this far-away community, 
with coal at its doors, and iron in the near-by 
mountains, Hamilton's new doctrine found willing 
disciples and industry had more than a beginning. 
Soon after the close of the Revolutionary War, 
iron ore was mined in the Juniata Valley, and 
furnaces and forges established, and bar iron 
and castings made. The iron was carried to 
Pittsburgh, partly on horseback, and partly by 
water, down the Conemaugh and Allegheny Rivers. 
Small shops for the manufacture of articles of 
iron were opened. Shortly afterward iron ore 
was also mined in the counties of Fayette and 
Westmoreland and furnaces and forges built and 
iron produced. The distance being shorter from 
Fayette and Westmoreland Counties than from 
the Juniata Valley, iron was thereafter brought 
to Pittsburgh only from the former districts. 
The iron shops increased in number. Coal was 



92 Pittsburgh 

the pole star which lighted the way to their estab- 
lishment. A writer who saw the advantages of 
Pittsburgh with the eyes of a Munchausen, writing 
of the value of its coal, declared, that the blaze 
afforded "so strong a light, that in winter, . . . 
neither tailors, or other mechanics burn candles."^ 
At the close of the eighteenth century, the black 
smoke of the iron shops, the glass manufactory, 
the boat yards, the distillery, the brewery, the 
tanneries, the brickyards, and the increasing num- 
ber of dwelling houses had already given the town 
a sombre hue. Industry went forward with leaps 
and bounds, and manufactories on a larger scale 
were set up. They were insignificant, if compared 
with even the medium-sized establishments of 
to-day, but were large and important in the eyes 
of people who, prior to the American Revolution, 
had been practically prohibited from engaging 
in any manufacturing by their English masters. 
Cotton mills were established, as were iron found- 
ries, nail factories, engine shops, a tinware manu- 
factory, a pipe manufactory, and in 1808 a second 
glass works, that of Robinson & Ensell.^ The 
extent of the plants can be gauged, when it is 



The Seat of Power 93 

known that one of the nail factories employed 
thirty men, the tinware manufactory twenty-eight 
men, and one of the cotton mills twelve men.^ 

In 1804, the Bank of Pennsylvania opened a 
branch in Pittsburgh. A stage line from Cham- 
bersburgh to Baltimore and Philadelphia was 
placed in operation in the spring of 1803." In 
1804 this was extended to Pittsburgh, the first 
coach from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia being run 

on July 4th. 

Religion was now keeping pace with the in- 
crease in population and the growth in material 
prosperity. Hitherto those who were religiously 
inclined were obliged to attend the services of 
either the German or the Presbyterian chiirch. 
Other churches were now brought into existence. 
The Episcopalians formed an organization in 1805, 
under the name of "Trinity Church," and began 
the erection of their brick octagonal building, on 
the lot bounded by Liberty, Seventh, and Wood 
streets, which was a landmark in its day. 

Ever since the English occupancy, the popula- 
tion had been' Protestant in religion, although 
Protestantism in the early days signified little 



94 Pittsburgh 

more than a stout opposition to Roman Catholi- 
cism. The Presbyterians, who constituted the 
bulk of the EngUsh-speaking Protestants, had 
looked askance when the Episcopalians, whom 
they regarded as closely akin to Roman Catholics, 
formed their church organization. When it was 
rumored that Roman Catholic services were to 
be held, they shook their heads still more doubt- 
fully. Prior to 1 800 there was hardly a professed 
Roman Catholic in Pittsbtirgh. In 1804, the 
number was still so small that when the mis- 
sionary priest and former Russian prince and 
soldier, Demetrius Augustine Gallitzen, came and 
celebrated mass, there were only fifteen persons 
present to assist. ^ In 1808, a congregation was 
formed, and the next year a one-story brick 
chapel was erected^ at the southeast corner of 
Liberty and Washington streets, Washington 
Street then extending to Liberty Street. The 
site is now occupied by the entrance to the 
Pennsylvania Station. Practically all the parish- 
ioners were Irish, and it was nattual that the new 
edifice should be named "St. Patrick's Church." 
The Methodists organized a congregation at the 



The Seat of Power 95 

same time as the Roman Catholics, ^ and in 18 10 
erected a small brick building on Front Street 
below Smithfield, opposite the lower end of the 
site at present occupied by the Monongahela 
House.* The Baptists were growing in numbers 
and, although lacking a church organization, met 
at one another's houses, and listened to the exhor- 
tations of traveling missionaries of that faith. ^ 

The Freemasons must be credited with a move- 
ment, inaugurated at this time, which was to 
have a far-reaching effect. The meetings of 
Lodge No. 45 in the taverns had been conducive 
of almost everything except sobriety. The effects 
were degrading, and in many cases injurious, not 
only to the persons affected but to their dependents 
as well. Also the evil was growing, and was con- 
trary to the expressed ideals of the order. Practi- 
cally all the leaders in the village, whether in public 
or private life, had been or were still members 
of the lodge. Among the older members were 
General Richard Butler and his brother, Colonel 
William Butler, General John Neville, Judge Hugh 
Henry Brackenridge, Captain Joseph Ashton, 
John Ormsby, Colonel James O'Hara, Captain 



96 Pittsburgh 

Michael Hufnagle, Major Isaac Craig, Senator 
James Ross, Samuel Ewalt, and Captain John 
Irwin. Younger members were Dr. Andrew Rich- 
ardson, Dr. Hugh Scott, William Wusthoff, 
Anthony Beelen, Thomas Baird, James Riddle, 
Tarleton Bates, Rev. Robert Steele, and Henry- 
Baldwin. It is not surprising that such men 
should sooner or later realize the calamity which 
confronted the members of the lodge, and decide 
upon eliminating the cause. The change was 
effected upon the completion of William Irwin's 
brick house, at the southwest corner of Market 
Street and the West Diamond, just prior to the 
opening of the new century. Thenceforth the 
meetings of the lodge were held in a room on 
the third floor of this building, and the temptation 
to excessive drinking was at least farther removed 
than when the sessions were being held in the 
"Sign of the Green Tree." This was the first 
practical temperance movement in Pittsburgh. 

Market Street was one of the narrowest streets 
in the town, but was the principal commercial 
thoroughfare. Coincidentally it was called " Main 
Street." It received the name by which it has 



The Seat of Power 97 

been known for more than a century and a quarter, 
from the fact that the first market house, erected 
in 1787, was located at the northwest corner of 
this street and Second Street. In 1800 the street 
was bustling with life. More drays and carts 
and wagons were moving over at least a portion 
of the thoroughfare than is the case to-day. In- 
termingled with the other vehicles were wagons 
from the country, drawn by oxen. In wet weather 
the roadway was ground into mud and thin mire. 
The merchants generally lived with their families 
in the houses where their business was conducted. 
The street was noisy with children. Trees grew 
on the outer edges of the foot-walks, and in the 
summer grass and weeds sprang up, watered by 
the street wells and pumps that supplied the 
residents with water. 

Most of the prominent people lived on Market 
Street. Judge Hugh Henry Brackenridge, although 
often absent from Pittsburgh in the performance of 
his judicial duties, maintained his residence on 
the street, until August 24, 1801, when he removed 
with his family to Carlisle." All but one of the 
physicians were located there. Here the leading 



98 Pittsburgh 

mercantile establishments were concentrated. 
Open spaces still intervened between the houses, 
and there were gardens, inclosed with fences 
painted white, in which flowers bloomed and 
vegetables flourished, but the spaces were rapidly 
being built upon. Everywhere the sounds of 
hammer and saw greeted the ear, and heaps of 
brick and beds of mortar encumbered the street. 
Public improvements were commenced: Market 
and Wood streets were being paved, as was Chan- 
cery Lane from the Monongahela River to Second 
Street. Front and Third streets were being 
graveled from Market to Wood Street, as was 
also Diamond Alley." The price of land was 
advancing. The Penns had sold most of the lots 
fronting on Market Street, in 1785, at the average 
price of ten pounds each in Pennsylvania currency, 
a pound being equal to two dollars and sixty-six 
and two-thirds cents in United States money 
of the present value. The lots were of varying 
dimensions: some had a front on Market Street 
of one hundred and sixty feet, and a depth of 
eighty feet, while others had fronts of from fifty- 
six to eighty feet, and were of different depths. 



i 



The Seat of Power 99 

In 1789 and 1790, respectively, two lots were sold 
for fifty pounds each. In 1791, two others were 
sold for one hundred and twenty pounds each. 
In 1793, a lot on the East Diamond, where values 
had not appreciated to the same extent as on 
Market Street, was sold for one hundred pounds. 
After 1800, the lots began to be subdivided, and 
still higher prices prevailed, and they continued 
to advance year by year. 

The Act of Congress of July 6, 1785, established 
a national currency, the unit being a dollar, equal 
in value to the Spanish milled dollar. The Span- 
ish milled dollar had been in circulation in this 
country for many years, and was the expressed 
unit in the paper money and other obligations, 
authorized by Congress since the first year of the 
Revolution. The United States mint, however, 
was not authorized until the passage of the Act of 
Congress of April 2, 1792, and the first coinage of 
silver and gold did not take place until two years 
later. During this interval the circulating medium 
was mainly Spanish silver money and the con- 
sideration mentioned in conveyances was usually 
in the Spanish milled dollar. In 1801, a lot having 



100 Pittsburgh 

a front on Market Street of thirty feet and a depth 
of seventy feet, was sold for six hundred and twelve 
dollars and fifty cents; in 1803, a lot having a front 
of forty-six feet and a depth of seventy feet was 
sold for thirteen hundred dollars. In 1804, an 
undivided fourth interest in a lot having a front 
of fifty-six feet, and a depth of one hundred and 
seventy-five feet, was sold for eight hundred and 
seventy-five dollars. In 1805, a half interest in a 
lot also having a front of fifty-six feet, and a depth 
of one hundred and seventy-five feet was sold for 
twelve hundred dollars. In 1806, an eighth inter- 
est in a lot having a front of fifty-six feet, and a 
depth of one hundred and seventy-five feet, was 
sold for two hundred and seventy-five dollars. 
In 1807, a sixth interest in a lot having a front 
of fifty-six feet, and a depth of one hundred and 
seventy-five feet, was sold for six hundred and 
sixty-six dollars and sixty-six cents. 

Most of the houses were built on land leased 
from the owners, or on lots subject to the payment 
of ground rents, which accounted to some extent 
for the inferior quality of the improvements. The 
number of brick houses on Market Street was still 



The Seat of Power loi 

so limited that the merchants were fond of refer- 
ring to the fact that the estabHshments conducted 
by them were located in a "brick house" or "next 
door to," or "across the street from," a "brick 
house." 

A majority of the merchants and professional 
men on the street were young, or at least had not 
arrived at middle age. Like all the men in new 
communities, they were possessed of unbounded 
energy, which found vent in their business affairs, 
in a desire for pleasure, and in an inordinate am- 
bition for political preferment. Perhaps it was 
owing to this cause, that the number of town and 
other offices were so numerous. The town officers 
v/ere a chief burgess, a burgess and four assistant 
burgesses, a town clerk, a high constable, two 
assessors, and two supervisors. The duties of the 
assistant burgesses were to assist the chief burgess 
and the burgess in the performance of their duties. ^ ' 
The justices of the peace were even more plentiful 
than the town officers. They were appointed 
by the governor and held office during good be- 
havior, which was practically for life. Appoint- 
ments were constantly made, usually as a reward 



102 Pittsburgh 

for party fealty, and there being a dearth of deaths 
among those in office, the number of justices of 
the peace had become inordinately large. There 
was also a cause peculiar to Pittsburgh, for the 
craving for office. The legislative acts of the 
borough were performed at Town Meetings held 
in the court house by the "Burgesses, Freeholders, 
and Inhabitants, householders," at which all the 
male adults whether citizens or aliens ^^ who had 
resided in the place for a year, had a voice. 
In 1800, there were nearly two hundred qualified 
electors who had a right to participate in the 
Town Meetings, ^"i and practically the entire num- 
ber were politicians. A desire for the glare of 
public life developed, and the creation of offices 
resulted. 

Considering the extent of the town and the 
number of the inhabitants, the stores were nu- 
merous, there being, in 1803, forty- nine stores 
and shops. ^^ The explanation was that much 
of the trade of Pittsburgh was with travelers 
passing through the place, and with settlements 
farther west and south. The travelers were fre- 
quently delayed for long periods. Owing to the 



The Seat of Power 103 

lack of a sufficient stage of water in the rivers, 
as high as a hundred boats, each carrying an 
average of twelve emigrants, were sometimes tied 
up along the Monongahela River between Pitts- 
burgh and New Geneva, and as many more 
along the Allegheny/^ The various supplies 
required while there and for the further jour- 
ney were furnished by the merchants of the 
town. 

The stores were usually what is termed "general 
stores," where everything necessary for the use of 
pioneer families could be purchased. Only a few 
establishments dealt in special lines. On the 
shelves were articles that at present are sug- 
gestive of the day in which they were sold. 
Taken in connection with the dress of the people, 
the food they ate, their churches, their societies, 
their work, and their amusements, they form a more 
or less complete outline picture of the time. Items 
which stand out in relief are Franklin stoves, 
chimney hooks, window weights, brass and stock 
locks, brass and iron candlesticks, snuffers, horse 
fleams, iron combs, iron buttons, knee buckles, 
powder flasks, American and German gunpowder, 



104 Pittsburgh 

bar lead and shot, wallowers for Dutch fans, and 
cards. ^7 The sale of cards was an industry of 
importance in agricultural communities. At pres- 
ent the name is confusing. The civilization of 
the day had not developed business or visiting 
cards, and if playing cards were intended they 
would have been so designated. The cards sold 
in Pittsburgh were brushes with wire teeth used 
in disentangling fibers of wool, cotton, and hemp, 
and laying them parallel to one another prepara- 
tory to spinning. In 1794, the advertisement of 
Adgate & Co., "at the card manufactory, corner 
of Market and Water Streets," appeared in the 
Pittsburgh Gazette. ^ ^ 

The occupancy of Market Street began at 
Water Street. Some of the early settlers were 
still living in the houses where they began their 
business life. Samuel Ewalt was among the 
earliest merchants on the street. His store was 
at the northeast corner of Market and Water 
streets. He owned the entire block on the east- 
erly side of Market Street, between Water and 
Front streets, his land extending eastwardly a 
considerable distance. 



The Seat of Power 105 

On Water Street, one lot removed from the west 
side of Market Street, was the home of Colonel 
Presley Neville. While a very young man, living 
in his native Virginia, he had served as an officer 
in the Revolutionary War. During this period 
he married the eldest daughter of General Daniel 
Morgan. In Pittsburgh Colonel Neville held 
many public positions. He had been inspector of 
the Allegheny County brigade of militia, agent 
for the United States for receiving and storing 
whisky taken in kind for the excise, a member of 
the Legislature,^^ and was now surveyor of Alle- 
gheny County,^" and was engaged in selling town 
lots, and lands in the adjacent townships. ^^ In 
1803, he was a candidate for chief burgess, but his 
vote was a tie with that of his opponent. Colonel 
James O'Hara, who had also been an officer in 
the Revolution- The determination of the case 
being with the governor, the decision was in favor 
of Colonel O'Hara, ^^ but under the law Colonel 
Neville became burgess. ^^ Below Colonel Ne- 
ville's house, at the northwest corner of Water 
and Ferry streets, was a large two-story frame 
building set in a garden. This was the town house 



io6 Pittsburgh 

of General John Neville, the father of Colonel 
Neville. Like his son, he was a former Revolu- 
tionary officer; he had been Inspector of the 
Revenue under the excise law, during the Whisky 
Insurrection. The burning of his country home 
by the Insurgents was one of the events of the 
short-lived revolt. On Water Street, one door 
above Redoubt Alley, was the frame tenement 
house of Major Isaac Craig. The building had 
become historic. It was here that Alexander 
Hamilton, Judge Richard Peters of the United 
States District Court for Pennsylvania, together 
with the United States District Attorney, and the 
United States Marshal, who accompanied the 
army of General Lee into Western Pennsylvania, 
held court and interrogated Hugh Henry Brack- 
enridge, and others suspected of fomenting the 
Whisky Insurrection. 

West of Major Craig's home, a short distance 
east of West Alley, was the large frame dwelling 
of Colonel O'Hara. O'Hara was the most enter- 
prising citizen in the town, and an important 
factor in its early development. At one time he 
was engaged in almost a dozen enterprises. He 



The Seat of Power 107 

was also the largest owner of real estate both in 
Pittsburgh, and Allegheny County, resident in 
the borough. Among the older merchants were 
William Christy, John Irwin, and William Irwin. 
They had formerly been partners, but the partner- 
ship had long since been dissolved, ^"^ and each now 
had a store of his own. Christy's establishment 
was at the northwest corner of Market and Water 
streets. He sold all kinds of cloths and velvets, 
cassimeres, corduroys, and flannels, teas, sugar, 
and "common groceries of every denomination." ^s 
During the Virginia regime, he was a lieutenant 
in the Pittsburgh militia, and in 1802 was town 
clerk. ^^ Adjoining Christy's store was that of 
Dr. Andrew Richardson. Richardson was a phy- 
sician. At this time physicians not only pre- 
scribed medicines, but prepared and sold them, 
and Richardson was no exception. His advertise- 
ment reads like that of a latter-day druggist: "Oil 
of Vitriol. I have for sale at my medical store a 
quantity of oil of vitriol which I will sell low for 
cash. Also a variety of drugs and medicines 
which I will sell wholesale or retail at the same 
terms." ^7 



io8 Pittsburgh 

He was prominent in many respects. Besides 
being a physician, he was a justice of the peace, 
and a leader in politics. In January, 1800, 
Governor McKean appointed him Register and 
Recorder of Allegheny County in place of Samuel 
Jones, his Federalist father-in-law,^^ but he soon 
relinquished the office. He was Hkewise a promi- 
nent Freemason, being secretary of Lodge No. 
45, and was well known as a public speaker. At 
the dinner given on the first anniversary of the 
inauguration of President Jefferson he was one of 
the two presiding officers. ^^ On St. John the 
Evangelist's Day, December 27, 1798, he delivered 
an oration before Lodge No. 45, which was con- 
sidered of such importance that the lodge procured 
its publication in the Pittsburgh Gazette. 

The style was florid. Richardson was high in 
the councils of the Republican party, yet his 
argument was that of a Federalist. It was a 
panegyric on Freemasonry, and an expression of 
hope for universal peace and love. Opening 
with a review of the conflict convulsing Europe 
he launched out into a severe denunciation 
of the course that France was pursuing. "Al- 



The Seat of Power 109 

ready hath nation arisen against nation in lawless 
oppression," the orator proclaimed. "Already 
hath our infant country been threatened with a 
final subjugation." Continuing he asked: "And 
who are those who dare to usurp a superiority 
over us? The French ! Once the boast of history, 
the pride of the smiling page; but now a band of 
robbers, dead to every feeling of humanity, lost 
to every virtue; a band of robbers whose lawless 
acts have drawn upon them the just resentment 
of our virtuous brother, the illustrious Washington, 
who, though loaded with the oppressive weight of 
sixty-six years, stands ready once more to un- 
sheath his conquering sword to save his country 
from rapine and murder. Shall he stand the 
war alone? No, every Masonic heart will rush 
like lightning to his standard, with him conquer, 
or with him die!"^" 

Richardson's outspoken views appear to have 
caused an estrangement with the local Republican 
leaders, and in 1801, when he was a candidate for 
the State Senate, they were arrayed against him. 
He was charged with the unpardonable sin of 
reviling Thomas Jefferson, the idol of American 



1 10 Pittsburgh 

public life. The Pittsburgh Gazette and the Tree 
of Liberty contained frequent references to the 
incident. Richardson himself published a card, 
which was at once evasive and apologetic. He 
was accused of having three years before drunk a 
toast, "Damnation to Jefferson and his party," 
in Marie's tavern. He admitted having been in 
the tavern on the occasion referred to, but added : 
"This much I will say, that if such a toast was 
given by me, it was improper, and I must have 
done so on the impulse of the moment. I can- 
not say whether it was given at all." The 
Republican tide was too strong and he was de- 
feated, and was again defeated in 1802, when a 
candidate for representative to the Pennsylvania 
House of Representatives, 3^ and he met with a 
like fate when a candidate for the same office 
in 1803.-^^ In August of 1809 he died, a disap- 
pointed man. 33 

In the same block with Dr. Richardson, at the 
southwest corner of Market and Front streets, 
were the cabinet-makers and upholsterers, Dob- 
bins & McElhinney.3 4 Directly across Market 
Street from Dobbins & McElhinney, was the 



The Seat of Power iii 

establishment of the Chevalier Dubac. The sign 
gave no inkling of the noble birth of the pro- 
prietor, reading simply, "Gabriel Dubac." ^s jje 
had recently removed to this corner from Front 
Street. 3 6 He has been described as the most 
popular citizen of the village. ^ 7 With his wines, 
dry goods, and groceries, he sold confectionery. 
His dog "Sultan," and his monkey "Bijou," were 
the joy of the children. He was an accomplished 
scholar, and possessed most polished manners. 
When he closed his shop and entered society, he 
was the delight of all with whom he associated. 
He was in the habit of dining on Sundays at 
the home of General Neville. When the French 
princes, the Duke of Orleans, afterwards Louis 
Philippe, King of France, and his two brothers, 
the Duke of Montpensier and the Cotmt of Beau- 
jolais, visited Pittsburgh in 1797, it was the Cheva- 
lier Dubac who assisted in making their stay 
agreeable. 



REFERENCES 
Chapter V 

"A Sketch of Pittsburgh," The Literary Magazine, Phila- 
delphia, October, 1806, p. 252. 

Cramer's Pittsburgh Almanac for 180Q. 

"A Sketch of Pittsburgh," The Literary Magazine, Phila- 
- delphia, October, 1806, p. 254. 

Pittsburgh Gazette, May 13, 1803. 

Rev. a. a. Lambing. A History of the Catholic Church in 
the Dioceses of Pittsburgh and Allegheny, New York, 1880, 
p. 38. 

P. Cuming. Sketches of a Tour to the Western Country in 
1807-180Q, Pittsburgh, 18 10, p. 69. 

F. Cuming. Sketches of a Tour to the Western Country in 
iSof-iSog, Pittsburgh, 1810, p. 69. 

Centennial Celebration of Pittsburgh Methodism, 1888, pp. 66- 
67. 

F. Cuming. Sketches of a Tour to the Western Country in 
i8o7-i8og, Pittsburgh, 1810, p. 69. 

Tree of Liberty, August 22, 1801. 

F. Cuming. Sketches of a Tour to the Western Country in 
i8o7~i8oQ, Pittsburgh, 1810, p. 61. 

Pittsburgh Gazette, May 22, 1801; Act of September 12, 
1782; Act of April 22, 1794. 

Stewart v. Foster, 2 Binney, no. 

Tree of Liberty, May 23, 1801. 

Thaddeus Mason Harris. The Journal of a Tour, Boston, 
1805, p. 41. 

"A Sketch of Pittsburgh," The Literary Magazine, Phila- 
delphia, October, 1806, p. 253. 
112 



The Seat of Power 113 

*7 Pittsburgh Gazette, August 23, 1794; Pittsburgh Gazette, Octo- 
ber 10, 1800. 

** Pittsburgh Gazette, July 26, 1794. 

^' Pittsburgh Gazette, September 22, 1798. 

*" Pittsburgh Gazette, October 10, 1800. 

" Pittsburgh Gazette, November 28, 1800. 

2^ Pittsburgh Gazette, May 20, 1803, 

'3 Tree of Liberty, December 10, 1803. 

^-i Pittsburgh Gazette, May 9, 1789. 

*s Pittsburgh Gazette, January 9, 1801. 

** Pittsburgh Gazette, May 21, 1802. 

"7 Pittsburgh Gazette, April 20, 1799. 

'^^ Pittsburgh Gazette, January 25, 1800. 

^9 Tree of Liberty, March 13, 1802. 

30 Pittsburgh Gazette, January 5, 1799. 

31 Pittsburgh Gazette, October 22, 1802. 
3^ Tree of Liberty, October 22, 1803. 

33 F. Cuming. Sketches of a Tour to the Western Country in 
1807-180Q, Pittsburgh, 1810, p. 71. 

^* Pittsburgh Gazette, Spetember 10, 1802. 

3s Pittsburgh Gazette, April 23, 1802. 

3' Pittsburgh Gazette, October 23, 1801. 

3 7 Morgan Neville. In John F. Watson's Annals of Phila- 
delphia and Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 1891, vol. ii., 
pp. 132-135. 
8 



CHAPTER VI 

PUBLIC AND PRIVATE AFFAIRS 

THE news and literary center was between 
Front and Second streets. Here the two 
[newspapers were published. John Scull, 
the owner of the Pittsburgh Gazette, lived at the 
northwest comer of Market and Front streets; 
and on Front Street, immediately in the rear of 
his dwelling, stood the small one-story building 
where the newspaper was printed. In this house 
the post office had been located until 1794, when 
Scull was succeeded as postmaster by George 
Adams, who removed the post office to the log 
house on Front Street near Ferry. At the norther- 
ly end of the block, at the corner of Second Street, 
was the brick house of Dr. Peter Mowry, who had 
the largest medical practice in the town. Directly 
across Market Street from Dr. Mowry, Judge 

114 



Public and Private Affairs 115 

Hugh Henry Brackenridge had erected for the 
Tree of Liberty, a one-story office, and behind this 
a building where the paper was printed. ^ 

Judge Brackenridge's dweUing adjoined the office 
of the Tree of Liberty on the south. ^ It was a large 
and commodious blue frame building which had 
been, until recently, surrotmded by a paling 
fence. The larger part was now given over 
to trade. It was the best known house in the 
town. In it General Lee had made his head- 
quarters while in Pittsburgh during the memora- 
ble days of November, 1794.^ In front of this 
building, Brackenridge, according to his own 
story, braved the indignation of Lee's troops, by 
parading before them dressed in his "large cocked 
hat, buff underdress, and coat of military blue."'' 
On the north side of Second Street, one door west 
of Chancery Lane, stood William Tumbull's 
large two-story stone structure, occupied during 
the Whisky Insurrection by William Semple as a 
store, s Here also resided at that time Colonel 
Presley Neville.^ General Daniel Morgan lived 
with his son-in-law during the stay of the army 
in Pittsburgh. From this house^General Morgan 



/ 



ii6 Pittsburgh 

and Colonel Neville rushed hatless to save Brack- 
enridge from the fury of the soldiers, who Brack- 
enridge charged were planning his assassination. ^ 
In 1804, the building was occupied by the "Office 
of Discount and Deposit," as the branch of the 
Bank of Pennsylvania was called. At the corner 
of Chancery Lane adjoining the Turnbull house, 
was the home of Steele Semple, the famous advo- 
cate and wit, and connoisseur of the polite and 
fashionable literature of the day.^ 

In the center of the block in which Brackenridge 
lived, was the book store and bindery of Zadok 
Cramer, at the "Sign of the Franklin Head." 
" Its ancient appearance, " wrote one of its habitues, 
"is agreeably associated in the memory of many 
amongst us with our happiest moments, when the 
careless, airy hours of youth were passing thought- 
lessly and cheerfully away. "^ Men just as sub- 
stantial, but of less note, also had establishments 
in this square. At the southerly comer of Front 
Street was the large store of Abner and Jeffe Barker 
who sold bar iron and castings, '° and kept a "gen- 
eral assortment of merchandise and boulting 
cloths. " " All the merchants were selling " boult- 



Public and Private Affairs 117 

ing cloths," which were cloths used by millers 
for sifting flour. Adjoining Abner and Jeffe 
Barker's store on the north was the establishment 
of Jeremiah Barker who had for sale a "handsome 
and general assortment of the freshest goods, "'=' 
and "a few boxes of glass eight by ten. "'^ In 
addition to being a merchant, Jeremiah Barker 
was justice of the peace, and in 1801 burgess. '^ 
The store of Abner and Jeffe Barker, and the 
store of Jeremiah Barker, were both on the site 
formerly occupied by Andrew Watson's tavern. 

On the north side of Front Street, two doors 
east of Abner and Jeffe Barker's store, was an old 
two-story log building owned by Andrew Watson. 
It had been formerly occupied as a store by 
John and Samuel Calhoun, ^^ and when Allegheny 
County was formed, was rented by the county for 
the use of the courts, and called the " Court House." 
In this house justice was dispensed for many years. 
In December, 1788, the first court of quarter 
sessions for Allegheny County was held there, 
George Wallace being president judge, and John 
Scott, John Wilkins, and John J6hnson associates. 
They were all laymen, the constitution in force 



ii8 Pittsburgh 

not requiring judges to be learned in the law. 
The first court of common pleas was held in the 
building on March 14, 1789. 

The judges of the Supreme Court, or at least 
two of them, were required to go on the circuit 
annually, visiting every county during the in- 
tervals between the regular sessions of the Su- 
preme Court, and to hold courts of nisi prius and 
Oyer and Terminer for the trial of capital cases. ^^ 
In Pittsburgh the sessions were held in Andrew 
Watson's house. Here Chief Justice McKean 
and Justice George Bryan held the first court of 
Oyer and Terminer for Allegheny County. Judge 
Henry M. Brackenridge related that he had been 
informed that, at this session, they sat in scarlet 
robes. He stated further that when going to and 
returning from court the judges were carefully 
attired in black, with cocked hats, and were pre- 
ceded by the Sheriff of the County bearing a white 
wand. Leading the procession was a drummer 
beating a drum. ^ '^ 

The first court house was memorable for another 
reason. It was in the court room that the towns- 
people assembled on that eventful evening of the 



Public and Private Affairs 119 

thirty-first day of July, during the stormiest days 
of the Whisky Insurrection.^^ The mail from 
Pittsburgh to Philadelphia had been robbed by 
the Insurgents and among the letters taken were 
several, written by prominent citizens of Pittsburgh, 
which indicated a hostile spirit toward the insur- 
rection. The sentiments expressed were consid- 
ered as reflecting the opinion of the town. The 
rage of the Insurgents was now directed against 
Pittsburgh. In their wrath they characterized it 
as another Sodom, and declared that they would 
come and destroy it with fire, and leave nothing 
but smoking ruins to mark the spot where it had 
stood. With this end in view they commenced 
gathering in force at Braddocksfield. News of 
the sinister purpose spread to the town. Alarm 
grew into terror, and a meeting was hastily called 
to consider measures of protection. The meeting 
was already in progress, when a committee sent 
by the Insurgents arrived and announced that the 
town would be spared if certain obnoxious per- 
sons, including the writers of the letters found in 
the mail, were banished from the town. They 
reported that the task of saving the town would 



120 Pittsburgh 

be easier of accomplishment if the inhabitants 
marched out in a body to meet the Insurgents, 
and by fraternizing with them show that they 
were not hostile to the Insurgent cause. The 
meeting deliberated far into the night, and at two 
o'clock the next morning arrived at a humiliating 
conclusion. They agreed to banish the men asked 
for, and to join the Insurgents at Braddocksfield, 
"as brethren to carry into effect with them any 
measure that may seem to them advisable for the 
common cause." Even then the panic did not 
subside. The people refused to go to bed ; women 
wept; valuables were hidden, and lights flickered 
in the houses all night long. 

At the northwest corner of Market and Second 
streets, in the three-story double brick building 
owned by Colonel O'Hara, was the store of Scott 
& Trotter, where they sold "merchandise of a 
superior quality suitable to every station, which 
they are determined to sell on very low terms for 
cash, peltry, furs, andapprovedcountryproduce. "^' 
Next door to Scott & Trotter was Dr. George 
Stevenson. Like Dr. Richardson, Stevenson con- 
ducted an apothecary shop and sold "drugs, medi-' 



Public and Private Affairs 121 

cines, surgical instruments, etc. "'^'' He was a 
former Revolutionary officer, and had been third 
lieutenant in the First Pennsylvania Regiment. 
In 1778, he resigned to study medicine, and re- 
entered the service in 1779 as surgeon's mate with 
the rank of ensign. In 1798, he was major in the 
Tenth United States Regiment. Stevenson was 
chief burgess in 1801.^^ 

At the southwest comer of Market and Third 
streets was the "hat sales shop" of Thomas and 
Samuel Magee.^^ Here they kept for sale the 
beaver, castor, and roram hats, which they manu- 
factured at the comer of Front Street and Chan- 
cery Lane. On the opposite side of Market Street 
from Scott & Trotter was William Herd's dry 
goods and grocery store. ^^ Also on this side of 
Market Street, at the northeast comer of that 
street and Third Street, was another physician, 
Dr. Hugh Scott. "" ^ Then came the store of William 
Gazzam, and adjoining was that of William Bar- 
rett. Farther on, Fulton & Baird sold "soal 
and upper leather, "^^ and James Riddle had a 
boot and shoe-making establishment^^ and sold 
"Halifax soal leather, also boot legs, half and 



122 Pittsburgh 

whole soals, and boot webbing. "^^ Another es- 
tabHshment was that of WilHam Porter who had 
a cut and forged nail manufactory.^^ 

Adjoining Porter on the north was the well- 
known tavern of Mrs. Mary Murphy, commonly 
known as "Molly" Murphy, the widow of Patrick 
Murphy, at the "Sign of General Butler. " Begin- 
ning on April i, 1800, and for several years after- 
ward, the tavern was conducted by Richard 
Hancock. ^9 Next door to the "Sign of General 
Butler," and extending to Fourth Street at the 
"Sign of the Negro," Joseph McClurg sold dry 
goods, hardware, china, and glassware, and con- 
ducted a tobacco manufactory. ^ ° He also adver- 
tised as having for sale "a large assortment of 
window and hollow glass of a superior quality, from 
A. Gallatin, Esq's., glass works at New Geneva. "^^ 

The "Sign of General Butler" was named for 
General Richard Butler who in his day was the 
most noted character in Pittsburgh. He had 
been Indian trader and Indian agent. In the 
Revolution he was second in command to General 
Daniel Morgan at Saratoga, and second in com- 
mand to General Anthony Wayne at Stony Point. 



Public and Private Affairs 123 

He was a justice of the Court of Common Pleas 
of Allegheny County ^^ and was the first lieuten- 
ant of the county, the officer who at that time was 
commander of the mihtia.^'' He was a member 
of the General Assembly, ^^ ^nd met a glorious 
death during St. Clair's unfortunate expedition 
against the Indians on the Miami River, on No- 
vember 4, 1791.3 s His name has been commem- 
orated in that of Butler County. ^^ His home 
was in the log house situated on the east side 
of Marbury, now Third Street, one door south of 
Penn Street, now Penn Avenue, ^^ where his widow 
continued to reside. 

The "Sign of General Butler," like the home^of 
Brackenridge, became famous during the Whisky 
Insurrection. President Washington had ap- 
pointed a commission to meet the Insurgents, and 
procure their submission. It consisted of Senator 
James Ross, Attorney General William Bradford, 
also a Pennsylvanian, and Jasper Yeates, a justice 
of the Supreme Court of this State. The com- 
missioners on the part of Pennsylvania were Chief 
Justice McKean and General William Irvine. 
The commission had arranged to meet representa- 



124 Pittsburgh 

tives of those in rebellion, on Wednesday, August 
20, 1794. Two days before that date, the com- 
missioners took up their lodgings at the "Sign of 
General Butler," When it became known that 
they were at the tavern, a mob gathered before 
it on Market Street, and made their sentiments 
apparent by raising a liberty pole, the emblem 
everywhere in the disturbed districts of disaffec- 
tion toward the national government. A streamer 
was fastened to the pole on which were inscribed 
the watchwords of the Insurgents: 

"Liberty and no Excise. 
Death to Cowards and Traitors." 

Judge Hugh Henry Brackenridge has stated that 
it was with difficulty that he and others who were 
influential with the rioters prevailed on them to 
forego their intention of placing on the pole the 
flag which had been prepared, bearing six stripes, 
emblematical of the six counties, five in Pennsyl- 
vania, and one in Virginia, which were threaten- 
ing to secede from the United States and set up a 
government of their own. That the conferences 
which followed were fruitless is well known. Only 



Public and Private Affairs 125 

one man in attendance gained in reputation. 
Albert Gallatin was on the committee sent by 
the Insurgents. His ability and his firm stand 
in favor of law and order won for him everywhere, 
and particularly in Allegheny and Washington 
counties, the lasting regard of the citizens. Two 
months later a member of Congress was to be 
elected in the district composed of these counties, 
and Insurgents and non-insurgents flocked to 
Gallatin's support, and to the surprise of Brack- 
enridge and General John Woods, the other 
candidates, he was elected. 

During the occupancy of the "Sign of General 
Butler" by Richard Hancock, James Hilliard 
had a farrier shop and livery stable, in the stable 
connected with the tavern. ^^ The public contro- 
versy in which Hilliard engaged his wife, is a 
striking illustration of the mischievous result 
of the husband's absolute control of his wife's 
separate estate under the existing laws. Hilliard 
was married to Elizabeth Bausman, a daughter of 
Jacob Bausman, who was possessed of property 
in her own right which she had inherited from her 
father. Hilliard published a notice ^^ advising the 



126 Pittsburgh 

public that his wife had "absconded from his bed 
and board," and declaring that he would not be 
responsible for debts contracted by her. To this 
charge Mrs. Hilliard replied in a sharp letter. ^ " She 
denied her husband's accusation, and stated that 
she had gone with her children, at his request, on 
a visit to Jacob Haymaker. She charged Hilliard 
with having, during her absence, disposed of the 
household effects, including her wearing apparel, 
to John Smur, a tavern keeper in the town, and 
that everything had been taken away after night- 
fall; that the articles were part of her separate 
estate; that now she had "no bed nor board to go 
to." She asked that no credit be extended to 
Hilliard on the strength of her estate, and declared 
that thereafter she would decline to pay his debts, 
but would use her estate for her own benefit. 
"In the future," she concluded, "it shall not be 
expended in paying his tavern bills." 

A unique reputation attached to the houses in 
this block which, while descriptive, was at the 
same time significant of the political power of 
the occupants and their associates. Although the 
houses were built separately, and were of different 



Public and Private Affairs 127 

types, they were collectively called by the not- 
over-euphonious name of " Clapboard Row. " As 
the name indicated, they were constructed of clap- 
boards. So well known was "Clapboard Row" 
that the merchants who had their establishments 
there were fond of advertising the fact. Prac- 
tically all the occupants were politicians, and 
without exception belonged to the Republican 
party. Also the "Sign of General Butler" was 
the headquarters of that party. By their op- 
ponents, these leaders were termed the "Clap- 
board Row Junto," " junto" being an older word 
for "ring." General Fowler, after he separated 
from the RepubHcan party, designated them as 
the " Clapboardonian Democracy. "^^ The Pitts- 
burgh Gazette charged that the editor of the Tree 
of Liberty was controlled by "Clapboard Row.""" 
Some were officeholders, others desired to be 
such, and in State and national affairs they were 
supreme. 

The members of the "Clapboard Row Junto" 
were men of dual capacity. Their energies were 
devoted to their private affairs and to politics 
with equal intensity. In politics the smallest 



128 Pittsburgh 

details received careful attention. Many of the 
methods employed by modern Pittsburgh ' poli- 
ticians were inherited from "Clapboard Row." 
One of the schemes for increasing the party vote, 
which originated with "Clapboard Row," was 
to encourage and assist the aliens who settled in 
Pittsburgh to become naturalized. This was 
done through the medium of a committee com- 
posed of Thomas Baird, James Riddle, and Joseph 
McClurg.43 

Dr. Scott was high in the favor of the Repub- 
lican leaders, and on the death of George Adams 
on April i, 1801, was appointed postmaster, 
and established the post office in his store, 
continuing the practice of medicine and the 
sale of drugs as before. William Gazzam was 
an aggressive Irishman, who had been in the 
country only a few years, but by dint of perse- 
verance had pressed well forward in politics, 
perhaps to the detriment of his business, as he 
failed early in his career. He was brigade in- 
spector of the Allegheny County militia, and 
justice of the peace. He aroused the ire of 
General Fowler, when with other "Clapboard 



Public and Private Affairs 129 

Row" politicians he refused to support Fowler 
for Congress. 

The controversy was amusing. In the com- 
munications which Fowler published in the Pitts- 
burgh Gazette about his wrongs, he designated 
Gazzam as a "little man — in the most emphatic 
sense." He declared that under "the cloak of 
Republicanism and religion," Gazzam was "art- 
fully aiming at offices.""'' The allusion to Gaz- 
zam's "religion" referred to the gentleman's well 
known activity in the affairs of the Presbyterian 
Church, which he afterward left, owing, it was 
alleged, to the fact that the minister, the Rev. 
Robert Steele, gave out "two lines of a stanza 
to be sung, instead of the time-honored one. "'♦^ 
Fowler enlarged on Gazzam's reputed yearning 
for office. He enumerated the offices which 
Gazzam had held, and the others that he desired. 
He claimed that Gazzam was an applicant for the 
post office on the demise of George Adams; that 
he hoped to be county commissioner; that he was 
scheming to become a member of the General 
Assembly.''^ To this abuse Gazzam replied with 
equal venom. He said General Fowler had been 



130 Pittsburgh 

drunk on the last occasion that he had asked his 
support for Congress, and that he had abused him 
in a very ungentlemanly manner. '•'' 

Thomas Baird was a member of the firm of Ful- 
ton and Baird, and was a candidate for burgess in 
1803, the year that Colonel Neville was elected.''* 
Joseph McClurg was a candidate for supervisor in 
1803, but was defeated by A. McNickle."? Affili- 
ated with these men were Samuel Ewalt, Na- 
thaniel Irish, and Adamson Tannehill, the last two 
being former Revolutionary officers. Nathaniel 
Irish was county commissioner, s° and inspector 
of flour for the Western country, s' Adamson 
Tannehill had formerly conducted a tavern on 
Water Street, s^ and had been president of the 
Pittsburgh Fire Company, s 3 In October, 1800, 
while a justice of the peace, he was tried 
and convicted of extortion, before Justices Jasper 
Yeates and Thomas Smith of the Supreme Court 
while on circuit in Pittsburgh, that court then 
having original jurisdiction of this offense, under 
the constitution of 1790. Tannehill received a 
reprimand and was fined fifty dollars. The con- 
viction was thought to disqualify him from further 



Public and Private Affairs 131 

exercising the office of justice of the peace. 
Being a leading Republican, and the offense, which 
consisted in charging on two probates two shillings 
more than the law allowed, having been com- 
mitted five years before, Governor McKean, in 
January, 1801, remitted the^fine and reappointed 
Tannehill to the office which he had formerly 
held.s'' Dr. Andrew Richardson belonged to the 
"Clapboard Row," faction until his desertion of 
the Republican party. Joseph Davis, who had a 
grocery store on the other side of Market Street 
from "Clapboard Row" was another member of 
the clique, as was Tarleton Bates, the prothono- 
tary of the county, ^s who had succeeded John C. 
Gilkison in office. 

"Clapboard Row," was not allowed to win its 
victories unopposed. The opposition was both 
able and active. Judge Alexander Addison, Sena- 
tor James Ross, and General John Woods were 
the leaders of the Federalists. Colonel O'Hara, 
General Neville, Colonel Neville, Major Craig, 
Major Ebenezer Denny, Dr. Stevenson, and most 
of the former Revolutionary officers were also 
Federalists. Other Federalists were William 



132 Pittsburgh 

Christy, Dr. Mowry, Abner Barker, Jeremiah 
Barker, and Alexander McLaughlin. They made 
a gallant fight for their principles, but their voice 
was usually drowned in the mighty chorus of 
Republicanism that had swept the country from 
its former conservative moorings. In borough 
politics only were they successful. 
- The views of the rival political parties were 
echoed with startling frankness in the columns of 
the Tree of Liberty and the Pittsburgh Gazette. 
On October ii, 1800, the Tree of Liberty announced 
the election of the Republican candidate for in- 
spector of elections in the borough, and added 
jubilantly: "The people are no longer to be led 
up like tame asses to vote against their inclination 
for the characters that Ross, Woods, and Addison 
recommend. They now act for themselves." 
After the presidential election of 1800, it exulted 
further: "It is laughable to hear some of the hot- 
blooded Federalists moaning and groaning at the 
result of the last election. They know not what 
cause to attribute it to. They curse the Tree 
and all its leaves, they denounce ' Clapboard Row* 
with the yards and its size sticks. "^^ 



Public and Private Affairs 133 

The Pittsburgh Gazette was equally outspoken, its 
ire being particularly directed against Judge Hugh 
Henry Brackenridge. In an article signed "A 
Citizen of Washington, " it gave what purported 
to be an account of a drunken escapade of the 
Judge through Washington and Allegheny Coun- 
ties, which, if published to-day, would lead to a 
personal encounter, s 7 On another occasion Scull 
paid his compliments to Brackenridge in the fol- 
lowing sarcastic terms: "You who get two or 
three thousand dollars a year for setting up a 
slanderous press, and for two or three journeys 
through the State to sit as a mute on the bench, 
and wear the new cockade, in your drunken frolics 
through the country, can afford to buy a press and 
hire types, and pay under-devils to set types and 
fetch and carry tales. I cannot afford such things. 
I have no salary, post, or pension. "^^ 

A week later Scull attacked Brackenridge with 
even more virulence: "Mr. Brackenridge cannot 
expect to live long. He has already outlived all 
hope of fame. I doubt whether he feels that there 
is a God above him. I doubt whether he does not 
think that he is his own divinity while he lives^ 



134 Pittsburgh 

and that when he dies his dust will mingle with 
that of the beasts that perish. He has labored 
with industry and success to acquire the contempt 
and abhorrence of all whom it was possible for 
him to esteem. "59 



REFERENCES 
Chapter VI 

^ Tree of Liberty, August 23, 1800. 

* Tree of Liberty, August 23, 1800. 

3 H. H. Brackenridge. Incidents of the Insurrection in the 

Western Parts of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 1795, vol. 

ii., pp. 73-74- 
■< H. H. Brackenridge. Incidents of the Insurrection in the 

Western Parts of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 1795, vol. ii., 

p. 72. 
5 Pittsburgh Gazette, November 16, 1793. 
^ Pittsburgh Gazette, June 28, 1794. 
7 H. H. Brackenridge. Incidents of the Insurrection in the 

Western Parts of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 1795, vol. ii. 

p. 61. 

* Daniel Agnew. Address Delivered before the Allegheny 

County Bar Association, December i, 1888, p. 14. 

9 Loomis's Magazine Almanac for 1835, Pittsburgh, pp. 37-40. 

^0 Pittsburgh Gazette, January 30, 1801. 

^' Pittsburgh Gazette, October 10, 1800. 

^= Pittsburgh Gazette, July 10, 1801. 

^ 3 Pittsburgh Gazette, September 25, 1 801 . 

^^ Pittsburgh Gazette, May 22, 1801. 

^5 Pittsburgh Gazette, September 8, 1787. 

^* William H. Loyd. The Early Courts of Pennsylvania, Bos- 
ton, 1910, pp. 94-95, 124-125. 

^7 H. M. Brackenridge. The Literary Examiner and Western 
Monthly Review, Pittsburgh, Pa., 1839, pp. 27-29. 

** JohnWilkins. "The Western Insurrection." In Contribu- 
tions to American History, Philadelphia, 1858, pp. 183-184; 
H. M. Brackenridge. History of the Western Insurrection 
in Western Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, 1859, pp. 93-94. 

135 



136 Pittsburgh 

^9 Pittsburgh Gazette, December 5, 1800. 

'° Pittsburgh Gazette, August 16, 1800. 

=' Pittsburgh Gazette, May 22, 1801. 

" Pittsburgh Gazette, June 30, 1798. 

« Tree of Liberty, June 18, 1803. 

'■i Pittsburgh Gazette, March 30, 1799. 

=5 Tree of Liberty, September 13, 1800. 

2« Tree of Liberty, April 18, 1801. 

27 Tree of Liberty, Angnst 8, 1801. 

=8 Pittsburgh Gazette, May 11, 1799. 

^9 Pittsburgh Gazette, April 5, 1800. 

3° Pittsburgh Gazette, June i, 1799; Tree of Liberty, August 30, 

1800. 

31 Tree of Liberty, February 28, 1801. 

3" Colonial Records, Harrisburg, 1853, vol. xv., p. 604. 

33 Pittsburgh Gazette, March 20, 1790. 

34 Colonial Records, Harrisburg, 1853, vol. xvi., p. 537 

35 Major Ebenezer Denny. Military Journal, Philadelphia, 

1859, pp. 16-18. 

36 William H. Egle. History of the Commonwealth of Pennsyl- 

vania, Philadelphia, 1883, p. 454. 

3 7 William G. Johnston. Life and Reminiscences, Pittsburgh, 

MCMI, p. 33. 

38 Tree of Liberty, January 10, 1 80 1. 

39 Tree of Liberty, December 13, 1800. 

4° Pittsburgh Gazette, December 19, 1800; Tree of Liberty, De- 
cember 27, 1800. 

41 Pittsburgh Gazette, August 14, 1801. 

42 Pittsburgh Gazette, October 22, 1802. 
'•3 Tree of Liberty, June 25, 1803. 

41 Pittsburgh Gazette, September 4, 1 801. 

45 Centennial Volume of the First Presbyterian Church of Pitts- 
burgh, Pa., 1784-1884, Pittsburgh, 1884, p. 34. 
4* Pittsburgh Gazette, September 4, 1801. 

4 7 Tree of Liberty, August 29, 1801. 

48 Tree of Liberty, May 21, 1803. 

49 Tree of Liberty, May 21, 1803. 

so Tree of Liberty, October 18, 1800. 

51 Pittsburgh Gazette, September 24, 1802. 

5' Pittsburgh Gazette, September 16, 1786. 

S3 Pittsburgh Gazette, October 4, 1794. 



Public and Private Affairs 137 

S4 Pittsburgh Gazette, January 30, rSoi ; Tree of Liberty, Febru- 
ary 7, 1 801. 

ss Pittsburgh Gazette, September 24, 1802. 

s6 Tree of Liberty, October 25, 1800. 

57 Pittsburgh Gazette, December 5, 1800. 

s8 Pittsburgh Gazette, February 6, 1801. 

59 Pittsburgh Gazette, February 13, 1801. 



CHAPTER VII 

A DUEL AND OTHER MATTERS 

ON July 24, 1805, a third Richmond appeared 
in the Pittsburgh newspaper field in the 
person of Ephraim Pentland. He estab- 
lished a weekly newspaper called The Common' 
wealth, which was published in a building situated 
in the West Diamond, opposite the southwest 
corner of the new court house. The newspaper 
resulted from the dissension in the Republican 
party in Pennsylvania. 

, Governor McKean's second term was drawing 
to a close. For two years prior to 1805, he had 
disagreed with the Republican General Assem- 
bly because of its extreme radicalism. It had 
enacted several revolutionary bills which he 
vetoed. The members appeared to have an 
especial aversion to lawyers, and a bill was passed 

138 



A Duel and Other Matters 139 

tosubstitute, in civil cases, referees for juries, and 
prohibiting the employment of counsel. This 
bill was also vetoed. The House assumed that 
the Supreme Court was arrogating to itself 
powers which it did not possess, and on Feb- 
ruary 28, 1803, scarcely a month after the im- 
peachment and removal from the bench of Judge 
Addison, ^ the first step was taken in the attempt 
to impeach three of the judges of the Supreme 
Court for alleged arbitrary conduct in com- 
mitting to prison for contempt, the plaintiff in 
a suit pending in the court. ^ Brackenridge was 
absent from the bench when the offender was 
imprisoned, and although accused of being largely 
responsible for the impeachment of Judge Ad- 
dison, was now loyal to his colleagues, and sent 
a letter to the House in which he declared his full 
concurrence in the course taken by the other 
judges, and asked to share their fate. The House 
replied by addressing the governor, and asking 
for Brackenridge's removal. McKean refused to 
comply with the request. On January 28, 1805, 
the impeachment trial came to an end; a ma- 
jority of the Senators pronounced the judges 



140 Pittsburgh 

guilty, but as the majority was short of two-thirds, 
the result was an acquittal. The anger of the 
radical Republicans was boundless. A division 
took place in the party, which caused intense 
feeling throughout the State. McKean's support- 
ers took the name of "Constitutionalists," while 
the opposition called themselves "Friends of the 
People." The charm of French phrases was still 
strong. 

The "Friends of the People" now put forward 
Simon Snyder as a candidate for governor in 
opposition to McKean. The abuse that was 
heaped on their former idol was appalling ; threats 
of_civil war were in the air. McKean was 
charged with being a demagogue who pandered 
to the worst elements in the Republican party, 
while being by education and sentiment an aristo- 
crat. He was also accused of having gone over 
to the Federalists. The Tree of Liberty continued 
a staunch supporter of McKean. Its former 
violence had given way to an advocacy of 
"moderation." 

The Commonwealth was established in the inter- 
est of the faction opposed to McKean, and its 



A Duel and Other Matters 141 

attacks on him and his supporter, the Tree of 
Liberty, were brutal. Israel came in for the most 
violent abuse. Pentland accused Israel of being 
ignorant. "Let a beardless boy instruct you, 
old goat!" was one of his coarse thrusts. In the 
same article he designated Israel as "the man with 
the long beard, but no brains," and concluded 
crudely, "Let a goslin' instruct you, old goose!" ^ 
The campaign teemed with personalities. The 
Federalists looked on in amusement, but finally 
came to the support of McKean, and he was 
elected. Pentland's chagrin knew no bounds, and 
after the election was over, he continued to attack 
the Tree of Liberty, the management of which, by 
this time had changed. He vented his spite on 
the supposed owners. He charged that, although 
the newspaper was published in the name of Walter 
Forward, Tarleton Bates and Henry Baldwin, " the 
two most prominent politicians in Pittsburgh, 
were the real proprietors, and that Bates was the 
editor. Baldwin, who was not quite twenty-six 
years of age, later in Hfe became a member of 
Congress and a justice of the Supreme Court of the 
United States. Forward was a young man of nine- 



142 Pittsburgh 

teen, a law student in Baldwin's office, and sub- 
sequently attained high political distinction. He 
was several times a member of Congress, was 
Secretary of the Treasury under President Tyler, 
char ge-d' -affaires to Denmark, under President 
Taylor, and president judge of the District Court 
of Allegheny County. 

^ Bates was the oldest and best known of the three 
men. His tragic end has caused a halo of romance 
to be cast about his striking personality. He was a 
native of Virginia, where he was born on May 22, 
1775. He was of Quaker origin, his father having 
lost his membership in the Society of Friends 
because of his services as a volunteer at the siege 
of Yorktown. The family seat was Belmont in 
Goochland County. Tarleton Bates came to 
Pittsburgh when eighteen years of age. During 
the early years of his residence he was employed 
by the national government in the Quarter Mas- 
ter's Department under Major Isaac Craig, the 
Deputy Quarter Master and Military Store- 
keeper at Pittsburgh, with whom for a time he 
made his home. When the Spaniards surrendered 
their rights to the country on the lower Missis- 



A Duel and Other Matters 143 

sippi in 1798, and the Mississippi Territory was 
organized with Natchez as the capital, Bates 
determined to leave Pittsburgh and settle in the 
southern town, but did not carry his design into 
execution, s Upon the appointment of John C. 
Gilkison to the office of prothonotary, he became 
a clerk under him. 

He had a fair education, was studiously inclined, 
and was possessed of considerable culture, including 
a knowledge of the French language. He owned the 
best copy of Lavater in Pittsburgh. His letters 
to members of his family^ indicate that he was 
generous, warm-hearted, and tender. The family 
fortunes were low. His brother Frederick, just 
starting out in life, felt the need of money and made 
his wants known to Tarleton. Although in the 
habit of speaking of himself as living in "exiled 
poverty," he responded without hesitation: 
"Nothing within my ability shall be wanting to 
smooth the entrance of the rugged path of life"; 
and he offered to help Frederick to the extent of 
thirty dollars a month. He led an upright life and 
ever attempted to deserve the good opinion of his 
mother and "avoid the imprudencies of youth." 



144 Pittsburgh 

Frederick charged him with being engaged to be 
married. His answer was an admission that he 
was in love, and a frank intimation that thus far 
success had not crowned his efforts. That he 
was fond of the society of ladies appears from a 
letter in which he tells of the many charming 
ladies in Pittsburgh. His acrostic on the name of 
Emily Morgan Neville, the daughter of Colonel 
Presley Neville, lends color to the imputation that 
at one time he was in love with that fascinating 
young woman. His complete obsession with poli- 
tics was probably responsible for his remaining 
unmarried. 

He was warmly attached to his party. In a 
letter written while the Republican party — which 
he was in the habit of calling the Democratic party 
— was still in its infancy in Pittsburgh, he said: 
"I believe I am almost the only Pittsburgher who 
is not ashamed to call himself a Democrat, and I 
am sure the appellation will never discredit me." 
He related humorously that on one occasion he 
attended a Fourth of July celebration, and among 
the speakers was Colonel Presley Neville, who, 
"abhors the Democrats as so many imps of hell." 



A Duel and Other Matters 145 

He was proud and told his family that he acknowl- 
edged no superior, and "admitted no knave, 
however bloated with wealth, to be an equal." 
He was one of several famous brothers. His 
younger brothers, Frederick, James, and Edward, 
after his death, emigrated to the Missouri Terri- 
tory where Frederick was the first secretary 
of the Territory, and the second governor of 
the State. James afterward settled in Arkansas 
and became a delegate to Congress from that 
Territory. Edward became the friend of Henry 
Clay and in i860 was a candidate for President 
before the convention which nominated Abraham 
Lincoln; he became Attorney-General in Lincoln's 
Cabinet. 

On Christmas Day, 1805, the article appeared 
in The Commonwealth^ which was the direct cause 
of the death of Tarleton Bates in a duel. In the 
course of the incendiary diatribe, Pentland de- 
clared that Bates and Baldwin were "two of 
the most abandoned political miscreants that ever 
disgraced a State." He demanded savagely: 
" To what party do they belong? " and answered the 
question himself. "To no party, to all parties. 



146 Pittsburgh 

They have been Whigs and Tories, High or Low 
Republicans, Democrats or Anti-Democrats, Ja- 
cobins or Anti-Jacobins, Constitutionalists or 
Republicans, according to existing circumstances. " 

Pentland's punishment was to be publicly 
cowhided by Bates on Market Street on January 
2, 1806. He is said to have fled precipitately 
when attacked. Pentland gave a darkly colored 
account of the occurrence: "On Thursday even- 
ing last, a considerable time after dark, the editor 
of this paper was waylaid, and attacked in a most 
outrageous manner, by Tarleton Bates, the pro- 
thonotary of this county, and co-proprietor and 
editor of the Tree of Liberty. Bates was in com- 
pany with some persons who were no doubt to act 
as aids, should their assistance be wanted, but 
owing to the mistiness of the evening, and their 
quick disappearance, all of them could not be 
recognized. Baldwin, Bates's colleague in infamy, 
and the brave and redoubtable Steele Semple, who 
never feels afraid but when he is in danger, were 
in the gang, — both limbs of the law, students of 
morality!" 7 

Dueling had been forbidden in Pennsylvania 



A Duel and Other Matters 147 

since 1794, under penalty of fine and imprison- 
ment, and loss of citizenship for seven years. ^ 
An unconverted public sentiment, however, still 
approved of the code of honor, and Pentland, who 
had at first threatened legal proceedings against 
Bates, challenged him instead. The challenge 
was carried by Thomas Stewart, a young Irishman 
who was a merchant in the town. Bates declined 
to accept, on the ground that Pentland's conduct 
since his chastisement, had rendered him unworthy 
of such notice. Pentland then posted Bates as a 
coward, upon which on January 7, 1806, Bates 
published a letter in the Tree of Liberty giving his 
reason for refusing the challenge, in which he 
reflected on Stewart. Stewart demanded a re- 
traction, which was refused, whereupon he chal- 
lenged Bates. This challenge was accepted. / 
' Bates immediately wrote his will. It was ex- 
pressive of deep feeling. There was every indica- 
tion of a premonition of his forthcoming end. He 
had always led a simple life, and in death he desired 
to avoid display. In that moment he recalled the 
discussions in the French Legislative Councils dur- 
ing the Directory, on the disposal of the dead by 



148 Pittsburgh 

burning. "Henry Baldwin, my very dear friend, 
my sole executor, ... is to burn my body, or at 
least bury it without any direction," he wrote; 
then he provided for the education of his brother 
James, which was to be completed by his studying 
law. In case the estate proved insufficient for 
the purpose, his brother Frederick was to provide 
the deficiency. Any residue, he declared, "is to 
go to my adored mother." 

The encounter took place the next day in a 
ravine in Oakland, in what is at present the Fourth 
Ward of the city of Pittsburgh. The ravine 
through which a rivulet coursed, called "Three- 
Mile Run, " long since sewered over, opened on the 
Monongahela River, at a point now occupied by 
the lower end of the Jones & Laughlin Steel 
Company's ore-yard, and by the ojffice of the Eliza 
Furnace. To-day there are laid out through the 
ravine several unpaved hillside streets with nar- 
row board sidewalks, one of which is the lower 
portion of Halket Street. On the upper edge of 
the easterly border of the ravine is Bates Street, 
named for Tarleton Bates. The duel was fought 
near the Monongahela River; the distance was 



A Duel and Other Matters 149 

ten paces; the weapons were pistols. Both 
principals displayed undaunted courage. Bates 
fell at the second fire, shot in the breast, and 
expired in an hour.' On the day that Bates lay 
dead in the ravine which ever since has been 
haunted with his memory, Pentland made another 
slanderous charge in his newspaper: "I shall not 
engross the columns of this paper with remarks on 
the private character of Mr. Bates, because that 
already appears to the public in colors as dark as 
the skin of his mistress."^" 

The community was shocked at the tragedy. 
Notwithstanding the directions of Bates's will in 
regard to the disposal of his body, he was buried 
in Trinity Chxirchyard. A great concourse of 
people attended the funeral, the chief mourner 
being Henry Baldwin; but the whole town de- 
plored his death. In its next issue, the Tree of 
Liberty added to the general gloom, by appearing 
in mourning dress. Two weeks later the post 
brought news of the dire calamity to the widowed 
mother in her Virginia home, and to her children. 
Amid their tears they rejoiced that the Virginia 
traditions of honor had not been violated and that 



150 Pittsburgh 

Tarleton Bates had accepted the challenge and pre- 
ferred "death to a life of infamy and disgrace."^'' 
The depth of their attachment appeared in the 
fact that the family preserved his letters as precious 
mementoes as long as they survived. For a time 
the grave was a hallowed spot to be pointed out to 
visitors, but as Bates's old friends died, and a new 
generation came on, it was neglected, and now the 
location is forgotten. Bates's brothers received 
their inspiration from him. He was the ablest 
member of the family. Had it not been for 
his untimely death, the name of Tarleton Bates 
might have become one of the great names in 
Pennsylvania history, if not in that of the United 
States. 

At the northwest corner of Market and Third 
streets, in the house built by Major Ebenezer 
Denny, of brick taken from Fort Pitt,^^' was the 
store of Denny & Beelen. The firm was composed 
of Major Denny and Anthony Beelen. They sold, 
"dry goods, hardware, groceries, stationery, per- 
fumery, china, glass, and queensware."^' Major 
Denny, the senior partner, was a slender, blue- 
eyed, and red-haired man of thirty-nine. His 



A Duel and Other Matters 151 

was a most adventurous career. In the Revo- 
lution he was ensign in the ist Pennsylvania 
Regiment, and lieutenant in the 3d and 4th 
Pennsylvania Regiments. He had served as 
lieutenant under General George Rodgers Clark 
in Illinois, was adjutant to General Josiah 
Harmar in the campaign against the Indians in 
1790, and aid-de-camp of General Arthur St. Clair 
in 1 79 1. He was the messenger who carried the 
news of the rout of St. Clair's army to President 
Washington at Philadelphia, then the seat of the 
national government. On returning to private 
life he had gone into business with Captain 
Joseph Ashton, a former Revolutionary officer 
like himself, at the place later conducted by 
Denny & Beelen. This partnership was dis- 
solved in 1794 when Denny was again appointed 
to a miHtary command and placed in charge of an 
expedition sent to Fort Le Boeuf. In Pittsburgh 
he took a conspicuous part in public affairs. '^ 
He was a candidate for representative to the Penn- 
sylvania House of Representatives against Lucus, 
but was defeated. Later he was elected county 
commissioner. In 1803 he was treasurer of the 



152 Pittsburgh 

county, being the first man to hold that office, 
and was the first mayor of Pittsburgh upon its 
becoming a city in 1816. 

Anthony Beelen, Major Denny's partner, was a 
native of the Austrian Netherlands, now Belgium, 
and was the son of Francis, Baron de Belen 
Bartholf, Minister of the King of Austria, Joseph 
II., to the United States, who, upon the death of 
the King in 1790, continued a resident of the United 
States. The Baron seems to have soon discarded 
his title of nobility, as he was engaged in business 
in Pittsburgh at an early date, going by the name 
of Francis Beelen, being a partner in the firm of 
Amberson, Beelen, & Anshutz which was dis- 
solved in 1794.^^ Anthony Beelen made the ac- 
quaintance of Denny in Philadelphia, and became 
associated with him, and in 1794 settled the affairs 
of Ashton & Denny. '^ In 1803 he was one of 
the Pittsburgh assessors. ''^ jn later years he con- 
ducted an air furnace and other enterprises. Beelen 
afterward lost his property, but the family for- 
tunes rose again when Mrs. Mary Murphy died. 
In her will she left all her valuable estate, the 
principal part of which consisted of the block on 



A Duel and Other Matters 153 

Market Street in which "Clapboard Row" was 
located, to Beelen in trust for his daughter and 
granddaughter. 

On Third Street a short distance west of Market 
Street, Andrew Willock, Jr., conducted a baking 
business, at the "Sign of the Sheaf of Wheat." 
He also kept a tavern, ^* taverns and bakeries being 
frequently carried on together. Alexander Mc- 
Laughlin, an oldtime merchant, was located at the 
southwesterly corner of Market and Fourth streets 
in the same block with Denny & Beelen. He 
had formerly been on Second Street. ^^ jn 1800 
he was a candidate for county commissioner, but 
was defeated by Nathaniel Irish. ^° James Wills, 
who dealt in "boot and bootee legs," adjoined 
McLaughlin on the south. ^^ Next to Wills's 
house was that occupied by John Wrenshall. 
Wrenshall was a man of culture and, in addition 
to keeping store and preaching the Gospel when 
the opportunity was presented, was a writer of 
ability. His Farewell to Pittsburgh and the Moun- 
tains, published in Philadelphia in 18 18, was a 
poem of some nierit, and of considerable local in- 
terest. He was the grandfather of Julia Dent, 



154 Pittsburgh 

the wife of General U. S. Grant, eighteenth Presi- 
dent of the United States. Joseph Davis was 
located between Wrenshall and Denny & Beelen. 
He was assessor in 1802.^^ 

John Irwin, one of William Christy's old part- 
ners, had his store at the northeast corner of 
Market and Fourth streets. He was a former 
Revolutionary officer, having been captain in the 
2nd Pennsylvania Regiment. At the next cor- 
ner, where Market Street intersected the South 
Diamond, in the large three-story brick building 
were the tavern and store of William Irwin, the 
other partner of Christy. This building was 
another of the houses built of brick taken from 
Fort Pitt. ^3 To this house William Irwin had re- 
moved in 1799^'*; and here he furnished public en- 
tertainment, and sold, in addition to whisky, and 
other diverting drinks, "kettles, stoves, and dry 
goods. "^^ Dancing classes were also held in the 
building, those for ladies at three o'clock in the 
afternoon, and the classes for gentlemen at six 
o'clock in the evening.^'' More serious business 
was conducted there. In the large hall in the 
third story the courts were held for more than a' 



A Duel and Other Matters 155 

year after being removed from Andrew Watson's 
house. ^'^ This was likewise the room in which 
Lodge No. 45 now held its sessions. ^^ 

North of the South Diamond the buildings were 
farther apart. At the southeast corner of the 
East Diamond and Diamond Alley was the log 
store of William Woods & Company. ^^ On the 
opposite side of Market Street from John Irwin 
and William Irwin's stores, in the middle of the 
block, was John Hamsher's retail shop, where he 
sold copper and tin-plate articles, and clover 
seed. 3° Next door was the store of James Dunlap 
& Company. 3^ In the Diamond, east of Market 
Street, was the semicircular market house, which 
covered most of this part of the Diamond. Its 
wide, projecting roof was supported by a double 
row of brick pillars. In the interior of the build- 
ing were rows of stalls, with benches and blocks, 
for the butchers. Encircling the structure was a 
brick pavement along the curb of which the farmers 
and market gardeners were stationed. ^^ In the 
Market House the borough elections were held.^^ 

Across Market Street from the Market House 
was the new court house. It was the pride of the 



156 Pittsburgh 

western country, and the only high building in 
the town. It was a square, two-story brick struc- 
ture with one-story wings, for the county offices, and 
was surmounted by a tall wooden spire. In 1800, 
the main building was barely completed, some of 
the upper rooms being yet unplastered, although 
the county offices had been removed to the wings 
two years before. ^"^ The belfry lacked the bell; 
and the space before the building was only then 
being paved. The main entrance was on 
Market Street, and on either side of the doorway 
were fluted wooden columns with Corinthian 
capitals. The court room was on the first floor 
and was paved with bricks which, like the brick 
used in the pavement outside, were large and 
almost square. Supporting the ceiling were Doric 
pillars resting upon square panelled pedestals. ^^ 
The judges' bench and the jury box were in the 
rear of the court room. They faced the entrance, 
and the judges' bench admitted seating the presi- 
dent judge and the four lay associate judges, at 
one time. It was elevated above the floor and 
was reached by stairs placed at the northerly end. 
The jury box was southerly of the judges' bench, 



A Duel and Other Matters 157 

with a narrow passage between it and the judges' 
bench. After the bell was placed in the belfry in 
1 80 1, Joseph Harris became bell-ringer, and rang 
the bell whenever court was about to convene. 

Back of the coiirt house, one hundred and forty 
feet west of the West Diamond, and running par- 
allel with it, was an alley, now called Delray 
Street. On the westerly side of this alley, a short 
distance south of Diamond Alley, was the new 
square two-story stone county jail. It was erected 
on a lot purchased by Allegheny County in 1793, 
and was completed at the same time as the 
court house. The building was surrounded by 
a stone wall, the entire lot being enclosed by a 
high board fence. 

Immediately in the rear of the court house, at 
the southwest corner of the West Diamond and 
Diamond Alley, was the tavern of John Reed at 
the "Sign of the Waggon." Here the Allegheny 
County courts held a few sessions, during the 
interval between the time of leaving William 
Irwin's house, and the completion of the court 
house. 3 ^ At the northeast corner of Market Street 
and the North Diamond, was the tavern of Thomas 



158 Pittsburgh 

Ferree at the " Sign of the Black Bear. " Directly 
across Market Street in the new brick building, 
was the boot and shoemaking establishment of 
John and Alexander Wills. ^^ On the same side of 
the street, the second door south of Fifth Street, 
was James Yeaman's brick building, in which he 
conducted his bakery and brewery. ^^ 



REFERENCES 
Chapter VII 

» Thomas Lloyd. The Trial 0} Alexander Addison, Esq., Lan- 
caster, 1803, pp. 1-168. 

" William Hamilton. Report of the Trial and Acquittal of 
Edward Shippen, Chief Justice, and Jasper Yeates and 
Thomas Smith, Assistant Justices of the Supreme Court of 
Pennsylvania, on an Impeachment before the Senate of the 
Commonwealth, January, 1805, Lancaster, pp. 1-587. 

» The Commonwealth, August 28, 1805. 

4 The Commonwealth, December 25, 1805. 

s Onward Bates. Bates et al. of Virginia and Missouri, 
Chicago, 1914, p. 45. 

' Onward Bates. Bates et al. of Virginia and Missouri^ 
Chicago, 1914, pp. 43-52. 

t The Commonwealth, January 8, 1806. 

* Collinson Read. Abridgement of the Laws of Pennsylvania, 
Philadelphia, MDCCCI, p. 383. 

9 The Commonwealth, January 15, 1806. 

^0 The Commonwealth, January 8, 1806. 

" Onward Bates. Bates et al. of Virginia and Missouri, 
Chicago, 1914, p. 57. 

" William G. Johnston. Life and Reminiscences, Vitlshvitgh., 
MCMI, p. 36. 

'3 Pittsburgh Gazette, December 22, 1798. 

^^ Major Ebenezer Denny. Military Journal, Philadelphia, 
1859, pp. 21-30; ibid., pp. 29-30. 

's Pittsburgh Gazette, August 2, 1794. 

'^ Pittsburgh Gazette, June 14, 1794. 

'7 Pittsburgh Gazette, May 20, 1803. 
Tree of Liberty, May 15, 1802. 
Pittsburgh Gazette, September 6, 1794. 
159 



i6o Pittsburgh 

'" PittsburghGazetle, October 24., 1800; Treeyf Liberty, Octoher 
18, 1800. 

" Pittsburgh Gazette, March 30, 1799. 

'^ Pittsburgh Gazette, May 21, 1802. 

'^ Isaac Harris. General Business Directory of the Cities of 
Pittsburgh and Allegheny, Pittsburgh, 184 1, p. 6. 

'* Pittsburgh Gazette, April 6, 1799. 

*s Pittsburgh Gazette, July i, 1799. 

'^ Pittsburgh Gazette, May 21, 1802. 

="7 H. M. Brackenridge. "Pittsburgh in the Olden Time," 
The Literary Examiner and Western Monthly Review, Pitts- 
burgh, Pa., 1839, pp. 27-29. 

*^ Centennial Volume of the First Presbyterian Church of Pitts- 
burgh, Pa., 1784-1884, Pittsburgh, 1884, p. 152. 

*» Pittsburgh Gazette, October 10, 1800; ibid., December 16, 1802. 

3" Pittsburgh Gazette, August 16, 1800. 

31 Pittsburgh Gazette, October 17, 1800. 

32 William G. Johnston. Life and Reminiscences, Pittsburgh, 

MCMI, p. 68. 

33 Pittsburgh Gazette, May 15, 180 1. 

34 Pittsburgh Gazette, October 13, 1798. 

3» H. M. Brackenridge. "Pittsburgh in The Olden Time," 
The Literary Examiner and Western Monthly Review, Pitts- 
burgh, Pa., 1839, pp. 27-29; William G. Johnston. Life 
and Reminiscences, Pittsburgh, MCMI, pp. 67-68. 

36 Pittsburgh Gazette, February i, 1800. 

37 Pittsburgh Gazette, November 14, 1800; ibid., July 2, 1802. 

38 Pittsburgh Gazette, August 28, 1801 ; ibid., August 5, 1803. 



CHAPTER VIII 

ZADOK CRAMER 

INTO this environment Zadok Cramer had come 
in the early spring of 1800. He was a young 
man of twenty-six, and was lured by the 
promise of fortune and perhaps fame. In the 
short span of years that he lived and flourished 
in Pittsburgh, he did more to advance the literary 
culture of his adopted town, than perhaps all the 
other educational agencies combined, which came 
before or after his time. It is customary to glorify 
statesmen and soldiers; monuments are erected to 
their memory, eulogies are pronounced in their 
praise, and memoirs are written setting forth the 
deeds they have done. But one scarcely ever 
thinks of the men who made possible the states- 
men and soldiers : the teachers, the men who con- 
duct the newspapers, the writers of books, and 
above all, the men who publish and sell books. 

zi 161 



1 62 Pittsburgh 

The publishers and sellers of books not only- 
supply the wants of the reading public, but they 
lead it into new channels. They place temptingly 
before it the latest and best productions in every 
branch of human activity of the brightest minds 
in the world. 

Cramer was born in New Jersey, in 1773, but 
spent most of his life since boyhood in Washing- 
ton, Pennsylvania, where he learned the humble 
trade of bookbinding. He was of Quaker origin, 
but had fallen away from the tenets of that 
faith, although he still affected the drab coat and 
straight high-crowned, wide-brimmed hat of the 
sect.^ He possessed withal the worldly shrewd- 
ness that is often an accompaniment of Quaker 
devoutness. - 

On March 30, 1800, he advertised in the Pitts- 
burgh Gazette that he was about to open a book- 
bindery. His announcement was couched in 
somewhat stilted language. "Under a conviction 
that an establishment of the above business will 
meet the approbation and encouragement of the 
inhabitants of Pittsburgh and its vicinity, the 
undersigned is determined to prosecute it as soon 



Zadok Cramer 163 

as he can make the necessary arrangements. His 
hopes of the success of this undertaking are flat- 
tering; he hopes Hkewise, that the pubHc ^on 
whom he is depending for encouragement will not 
be disappointed in placing in him that confidence 
merited only by industry and attention to their 
favors. " 

Cramer's ambition extended beyond the limits 
of his bookbindery, John C. Gilkison died on 
March 21, 1800, after having held the ofBce of 
prothonotary less than two months. The little 
bookstore which he had established was for sale. 
Judge Hugh Henry Brackenridge seems to have 
advanced the money invested by Gilkison in the 
business, and it devolved on him to settle Gilkison 's 
affairs. This was Cramer's opportunity, and he 
purchased Gilkison 's business, obtaining favorable 
terms from Brackenridge. In June he took pos- 
session. All his life he believed in the efficacy of 
advertising, and his entry upon this larger field was 
heralded by a long public notice.'' It was ad- 
dressed to the people of the "Western Country." 
He declared that he did not mean to be limited 
to the confines of the borough, and intended to 



164 Pittsburgh 

carry on his business extensively. He empha- 
sized his ability to make blankbooks and do book- 
binding "nearly if not quite as cheap" as could 
be done east of the Alleghany Mountains. He 
enlarged on the bookstore which he had just 
opened, and claimed to have a selection of nearly 
eight hundred volumes. 

His choice of location was fortunate. The 
business center was changing. Merchants whose 
establishments had been on Water Street, on 
Front Street, and on Second Street, were con- 
gregating on Market Street. Gilkison's store 
was on the east side of this street. Here Cramer 
established himself, and after the Tree of Liberty 
was founded, advertised as being located "be- 
tween the two printing offices. "^ To indicate his 
place of business he hung out the "Sign of the 
Franklin Head"; Benjamin Franklin was the 
patron saint of everyone who had any connection, 
however remote, with printing. Cramer desig- 
nated himself, "Bookbinder and Publisher," and 
the word "publisher" did not long remain a 
misnomer. It was the day of small publishers. 
Even in the larger cities in the East, books ema- 



Zadok Cramer 165 

nated from the printing presses of men whose es- 
tablishments were of minor importance. Large 
publishing houses are creatures of the complex 
civilization of a much later period. Probably 
from the beginning Cramer contemplated under- 
taking the publication of books and pamphlets 
as soon as his means permitted, although it was 
some months before he actually began publishing. 
But he was already making preparations to that 
end, and on October 17, 1800, he announced that 
in a few weeks almanacs for the year 1801 might 
be had at Philadelphia prices. '' 

At the national election of 1800, the Republicans 
were successful for the first time, John Adams, the 
Federal candidate, receiving less electoral votes 
than either Thomas Jefferson of Virginia or Aaron 
Burr of New York, the two Republican candidates. 
The returns of the electoral vote as counted by 
the Senate, indicated that Jefferson and Burr had 
each received the same number of votes. The de- 
cision thereupon devolved under the Constitution 
upon the House of Representatives, voting by 
States. The Federalists had a decided majority 
in the House of Representatives, but could not for 



1 66 Pittsburgh 

the purposes of this election, control a majority of 
the States; neither could the Republicans. In 
the course of the summer the capital had been 
removed from Philadelphia to the new town of 
Washington. Only the north wing of the capitol 
was completed, and this was fitted up for the 
accommodation of both houses of the Sixth Con- 
gress. The House of Representatives then became 
the battle-ground for the presidency and vice- 
presidency. Jefferson and Burr were both voted 
for, the Constitution providing that two candi- 
dates should be voted for, the one receiving the 
highest number of votes to be president, and the 
other vice-president. 

, The struggle grew in intensity, and the excite- 
ment became acute. The sick members were 
brought into the House on beds. Ballot after 
ballot was taken. The Federalists were mostly 
voting for Burr. The first day's session was ex- 
tended into the next day. The House remained 
in session seven days, a recess being taken at 
night after the first day's session. The Federalists 
were uneasy about several matters, but particu- 
larly about the continuance in office of their friends. 



Zadok Cramer 167 

Finally they secured from Jefferson an expression 
indicating that meritorious subordinate officers 
would not be removed merely on account of their 
political opinion. This settled the question. 
At noon on February 17th, the thirty-fifth bal- 
lot was taken with no result as before, but on 
the thirty-sixth ballot, Jefferson was elected. 
The vice-presidency thereupon devolved upon 
Burr. The joy over the election has hardly been 
equalled in the annals of American political his- 
tory. This was especially true in the vicinity of 
Pittsburgh. On the day ofj the inauguration 
of Jefferson and Burr, the inhabitants of the 
neighboring town Beaver gave vent to their exu- 
berance by dancing Indian dances, and singing 
the Ca Ira, and the Carmagnole of the French 

•3 

Revolution, s Cramer saw another business op- 
portunity and determined on his second publica- 
tion. It was to be an account of the struggle in 
the House of Representatives. On March 21, 
1 801, seventeen days after Jefferson's inaugura- 
tion, Cramer announced the book. 

Cramer's energies were not to be confined to the 
business of publishing, of selling books and sta- 



i68 Pittsburgh 

tionery, and doing bookbinding. Like John C. 
Gilkison, he determined to possess a circulating 
library^; perhaps the nucleus was to be the books 
received from Gilkison's library. He called it the 
"Pittsburgh Circulating Library" and it pros- 
pered, and six months after its establishment, the 
circulation had nearly doubled. ^ A catalogue 
was promised for an early date^ and was no doubt 
issued. The list of the original books in the 
library appears to have been lost. From notices 
of the reception of later books ^ some opinion 
may be formed of the general character of the 
reading-matter in the library. The books were 
mainly romances, and they may have lacked 
the merit of later-day novels, but there is some- 
thing about them that touches the heart. Also 
they recall from the shadows visions of readers 
long since dead. The books were realistic; they 
presented the life of a distant past in vivid 
colors; there is the lingering scent of lavender 
and bergamot. Delightfully described in their 
voliiminous pages were languishing eyes, tender 
accents, quaint dances, dreamy music, and start- 
ling and sometimes unreal adventures. Ladies 



Zadok Cramer 169 

were the principal readers; they loved long tales, 
and the authors supplied them. Novels in three 
and four volumes were common, and some were 
divided into as many as six volumes. 

The three most popular writers were the English 
novelists, Mrs. Ann Ward Radcliffe and William 
Godwin, and the Philadelphian, Charles Brockden 
Brown, who was one of America's earliest novelists. 
Mrs. Radcliffe was the best writer of the three. 
Her novels fascinated her readers. Cramer's 
library supplied Romance of the Forest, one of her 
best books. William Godwin was represented 
by St. Leon, a tale of the sixteenth century, in 
which much that is supernatural and terrible is 
introduced. Two books were by Charles Brock- 
den Brown, one being a graphic story of Phila- 
delphia life during the yellow-fever epidemic of 
1793, called, Arthur Mervin, or Memoirs of the 
Year I7Q3, the other was, Edgar Huntly, or Mem- 
oirs of a Sleep-walker. Montalbert was by that 
most prolific of English writers, Mrs. Charlotte 
Turner Smith, who in her day was criticized and 
praised with equal vehemence. Mordaunt was 
perhaps the best novel of Dr. John Moore, who 



170 Pittsburgh 

besides being a physician and noveHst, wrote 
books descriptive of manners and customs in 
England, France, and Italy. 

If the number of the author's books in the li- 
brary, was the criterion of his popularity, then the 
palm must be awarded to George Walker, the 
English bookseller, who was a prolific writer of 
novels. Three were on Cramer's shelves, Theodore 
Cyphon, or the Beneveloent Jew, The Vagabond, 
and Three Spaniards. The last is the only one 
that may still be met with. A popular book was 
Children of the Abbey, by Mrs. Regina Maria Roche, 
who was a rival of Mrs. Radcliffe. Madame de 
Stael's Delphine, was read in more restricted 
circles. In the case of Julia and the Illumin- 
ated Baron, by Miss Sarah Barrell, an encyclopedia 
would be required to find either the name of the 
book or of the author. Other books with suggestive 
titles have become still more obscure. Among 
them were The Silver Devil, Being the Adventures of 
an Evil Spirit, related by himself; The Rebel, Being 
a Memoir of Anthony 4th Earl of Sherwell, Includ- 
ing an Account of the Rising at Taunton in 1684, 
Compiled and Set Forth by his Cousin, Sir Hilary 



Zadok Cramer 171 

Mace; The Wanderings of William, or the Incon- 
stancy of Youth, being a sequel to the Farmer of 
New Jersey. There were few periodicals in the 
library. The American Museum, emanating from 
Philadelphia, was a monthly publication, and 
contained articles on almost every conceivable 
subject — "agriculture, commerce, manufactures, 
politics, morals, and manners." The Mirror, was 
another Philadelphia periodical published semi- 
weekly, and was a reprint of The Mirror of Edin- 
burgh. The Philanthropist, appeared weekly. 

The library continued to be an institution in 
Pittsburgh's intellectual progress for many years. 
It became the Pittsburgh Library Company, and 
contained as high as two thousand volumes. 
On November 27, 18 13, after Cramer's death, a 
new library was organized, also called the "Pitts- 
burgh Library Company." A committee was 
appointed to confer with the old Pittsburgh 
Library Company upon the propriety of forming 
a coalition of the two institutions.^" Of this 
committee, John Spear, who had become a part- 
ner of Cramer's, was a member. A consolidation 
was later effected. 



172 Pittsburgh 

The publications for which Cramer was best 
known in the early days, were his almanacs and 
Navigators. The publication of almanacs was 
common to all publishers in the border settlements, 
no less than in the more effete East. In 1803, 
Cramer's Almanac had developed into a pamphlet 
which is to-day both curious and valuable. The 
edition for that year is a fair specimen of the other 
almanacs which followed it. The astronomical 
tables, ' ' calculated for the meridian of Pittsburgh, ' ' 
were said to "serve without any sensible variation 
for the states of Ohio, Virginia, Kentucky, etc." 
The almanac also contained selections from the 
leading English contemporary writers. It neces- 
sarily followed that the articles were by English 
writers, as American authors were pitifully scarce. 
"The Poor Distracted Young Woman," was 
from Robert Bloomfield's Farmer's Boy. The 
Farmer's Boy from which the extract was taken 
had previously had a remarkable success, over 
twenty-five thousand copies being sold within two 
years after its publication in 1800. Other selec- 
tions were, "A Description of a Summer Morning," 
from James Beattie's poem, The Minstrel; "Sic a 



Zadok Cramer 173 

Wife as Willy Had, " from Robert Burns; a biog- 
raphy of Dr. Isaac Watts, whose version of the 
Psalms had superseded that of Rouse, and was 
in general use among the Presbyterians of Western 
Pennsylvania. There were suggestions on various 
subjects — "Polonius's Advice to his Son Laertes," 
and "Dr. Soloman's Observations." The last 
article was by Dr. Samuel Soloman, a London 
physician who was termed a quack, but the 
"Observations" indicate that he had a discrimin- 
ating knowledge of the rules of health. The 
ague, while not prevalent in Pittsburgh, was com- 
mon west and south of the town. For this ail- 
ment there was a "Receipt to Cure the Ague," and 
there was an "Advertisement to Farmers." 

The Constitution of the United States had been 
in force since 1788. Its provisions were little 
known to the general public and the almanac 
published it in full. The Constitution became 
the model for the constitutions of almost all the 
States, old as well as new. For this much credit 
was due to Cramer's Almanac, at least so far as some 
of the Western and Southwestern States are con- 
cerned. More valuable than anything contained 



174 Pittsburgh 

in the almanacs, from a local point of view, were 
the lists of marriages and deaths. Nowhere else 
are they to be found. No record of marriages 
or deaths was required to be made by either the 
municipality or the county. The church records 
were kept intermittently, and were imperfect. 
Few of the older families have records extending 
back to the beginning of the nineteenth century, 
and Cramer's lists furnish the only accurate infor- 
mation on the subject. In 1804 he began publishing 
two kinds of almanacs, the 'Common Almanac" 
and the "Magazine Almanac." The latter con- 
tained somewhat more reading matter than the 
former. The almanacs were sold in large quanti- 
ties both for local use and for distribution south 
and west of Pittsburgh. In the almanac for 1804 
Cramer for the first time gave "a view of the 
manufacturing trade of Pittsburgh." From that 
time forward, for the twenty-seven years that the 
publication of the almanacs was continued, much 
valuable local historical matter is to be found in 
their pages. 

The Navigator was the result of an original idea 
of Cramer's. He had been in Pittsburgh but a 



Zadok Cramer 175 

short time when he realized the necessity for a 
publication giving detailed information for navi- 
gating the Western rivers. He daily saw swarms 
of immigrants pass through the place, bound West 
and South, who lingered there attempting to learn, 
not only about navigating the rivers, but of the 
country to which they were bound. Ke proposed 
to furnish the information and set about collect- 
ing"data for the purpose. He was venturing upon 
an almost uncharted sea. 

The basis of his work seems to have been Cap- 
tain Thomas Hutchins's, A Topographical Descrip- 
tion of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, 
published in London in 1778. Captain Hutch- 
ins was an American, who had seen much service 
in the English army before the Revolution, mainly 
as engineer. At the outbreak of the war he was in 
London, and owing to his sympathy for his native 
country, suffered indignities and imprisonment, 
but found an opportunity to publish his book. 
Escaping to America, he was in 1781, by the 
influence of Benjamin Franklin, made "Geogra- 
pher to the United States of America," which ap- 
pears to have meant that he was in charge of the 



176 Pittsburgh 

government surveys. After the war he lived in 
Philadelphia, but was well known in Pittsburgh 
where he often stopped, as he owned considerable 
land in Allegheny County. These facts and the 
knowledge that he died in Pittsburgh on April 28, 
1789, no doubt helped to draw Cramer's attention 
to Hutchins's book. Other works from which 
Cramer may have obtained materials were Gilbert 
Imlay's North America, published in London in 
1797, and Jedidiah Morse's The American Gaze- 
teer, originally published in London in 1789 and 
republished in Boston in 1797. 

It is generally supposed that the first edition of 
the Navigator was published in 1801, yet no copy 
bearing that date is known to be in existence. 
There are extant several copies of the edition of 
1802. This edition was called The Ohio and 
Mississippi Navigator. In the preface dated 
February, 1802, the statement was made that two 
former editions had been issued; that they were 
both confined to the navigation of the Ohio River; 
and that they were sold in a very short time. No 
notice appeared in the Pittsburgh Gazette or the 
Tree of Liberty advertising either of the two 



Zadok Cramer 177 

earlier editions. The first mention of the Navi- 
gator appeared in the Pittsburgh Gazette on Febru- 
ary 26, 1802. This notice stated that there was 
"In the press and speedily will be published by 
Zadok Cramer, 'The Navigation of the Mononga- 
hela, Allegheny, Ohio, and Mississippi Rivers.'" 
The advertisement was continued in several suc- 
ceeding issues of the paper. Then on March 13, 
1802, the Tree oj Liberty announced that there had 
been published the day before, ''The Navigation of 
the Monongahela, Allegheny, and Ohio Rivers. " 
The notice continued, "and in a few days will be 
added . . . the 'The Navigation of the Mississippi 
(with an account of the Missouri).'" No other 
notices appeared at or about this time conveying 
other information. As the edition of 1802 was 
called the Ohio and Mississippi Navigator, and the 
advertisement in the Tree of Liberty, referred to the 
publication of the "Navigation of the Mononga- 
hela, Allegheny, and Ohio Rivers," nothing being 
said of the Mississippi, it might be inferred that 
it referred to one or both of the earliest editions and 
that they were published in 1802. The preface 
to the various editions of the Navigator published 



178 Pittsburgh 

after 1802, declared that they were the "sixth,** 
or "seventh" or "eighth" edition, as the case 
might be, which had appeared "since 1801." 
Whether this statement is the basis of the claim 
that the first edition of the Navigator was pub- 
lished in 1 801, is not known, but the fact remains, 
that no trace of any Navigator issued in that year 
can be found. Nor are there any known copies 
of the two earliest editions, whatever the year 
of their publication. 

The earlier editions were small octavo pam- 
phlets bound in coarse paper covers, the third 
containing forty pages. In this edition Cramer 
declared that he had obtained the information 
set forth "From the journals of gentlemen of 
observation, and now minutely corrected by 
several persons who have navigated those rivers 
for fifteen and twenty years." It contained a 
description of and directions for navigating the 
Ohio River, with only a description of the Mis- 
sissippi. Directions for navigating the latter 
stream came in later editions. When Cramer 
began publishing his early Navigators, France 
still owned the Louisiana Territory. Louisiana 



Zadok Cramer 179 

was considered a great land of promise throughout 
the United States, and merchants and intending 
emigrants cast longing eyes in its direction. 
After Louisiana was purchased, the succeeding 
editions of the Navigator contained much detailed 
information regarding it. A flood of emigration 
to the territory set in, most of the emigrants 
going by way of Pittsburgh; and there was a 
pronounced and constant increase in the sales 
of the Navigators. 

Captain Meriwether Lewis, and Captain Wil- 
liam Clark made their f am.ous expedition from the 
mouth of the Missouri River through the interior 
of the United States in the years 1804, 1805, 
and 1806. In 1807 Cramer published the first 
account of the undertaking, being the Journal 
of Patrick Gass, a member of the expedition. 
From this book Cramer compiled an account 
of the Missouri and Columbia rivers, which 
appeared in the Navigator for 1808, and in many 
subsequent editions. Each succeeding edition 
of the Navigator was an improvement on the 
one that preceded it. Every edition contained 
a description, short or long, of the "towns, posts, 



i8o Pittsburgh 

harbors, and settlements" on the rivers of which 
the work treated, the matter relating to Pittsburgh 
being particularly valuable, and as the editions 
increased in size, the descriptive matter grew 
in volume. 

On December 6, 1811, the most destructive 
earthquake of the century occurred in the country 
bordering on the lower Ohio River, and on the 
Mississippi, completely changing the course of the 
two streams at numerous points. Cramer promptly 
published a notice of the fact, warning navigators 
of the danger, and requested newspaper editors 
to print his notice." The corrections were then 
made in the next edition of the Navigator which 
was published in 18 14. The success of the iVaz'^'- 
ga/or reached its climax in 18 14, when it contained 
three hundred and sixty pages. From that time 
the size of the book gradually decreased, until in 
1824, when its publication was suspended, it had 
fallen to two hundred and seventy-five pages. 

The information relating to Pittsburgh, and to 
the rivers flowing by and below it, cost Cramer 
infinite pains to collect. From Cramer's Navi- 
gators the early travelers and later historians 



Zadok Cramer i8i 

drew for facts when writing about the Western 
country, often without giving credit. Cramer 
complained of the piracy. In this connection 
he mentioned the Rev. Thaddeus Mason Harris, 
whose Journal oj a Tour was published in 
Boston in 1805. He was especially bitter 
against Thomas Ash, the writer of a book of 
travel which appeared in London in 1808. He 
accused Ash of having taken his account of the 
Allegheny, Monongahela, and Ohio rivers ver- 
batim from the Navigator for 1806.'^ Notwith- 
standing this charge, Ash's book must have had 
some merit in Cramer's eyes, as he republished 
it the same year that it came out in London. 
Most of the writers, however, who obtained 
their information from the Navigator, gave it as 
their authority. John Mellish who was in Pitts- 
burgh in 181 1, commended the work: "The 
Pittsburgh Navigator is a little book containing 
a vast variety of information regarding the West- 
ern country, the prosperity of which seems to 
be an object of peculiar solicitude with the edi- 
tors. " ^ ^ Christian Schultz, coming through Pitts- 
burgh in September, 1807, had this to say: "Before 



1 82 Pittsburgh 

I left Pittsburgh I purchased the Navigator, a kind 
of Blunt, or Hamilton Moore, for these waters; 
it is a small pamphlet, but contains a great deal 
of useful and miscellaneous information, and is 
particularly serviceable to a stranger. "'^ Blunt 
was the American Coast Pilot, published in 1796 
by Edmund Blunt, and still used in recent years; 
Hamilton Moore was an English work called the 
Practical Navigator, of which many editions were 
published in London by Hamilton Moore. 



REFERENCES 
Chapter VIII 

* The Western Gleaner or Repository for Arts, Sciences, and 

Literature, Pittsburgh, Pa., August, 1814, vol. ii., pp.- 

173-175- 

* Pittsburgh Gazette, June 28, 1800. 

3 Pittsburgh Gazette, December 4, 1801. 

4 Tree of Liberty, October 18, 1800. 

s Pittsburgh Gazette, March 20, 1801. 

* Tree of Liberty, June 13, 1801. 

7 Pittsburgh Gazette, December 4, 1801. 

* Tree of Liberty, August 7, 1802. 

9 Pittsburgh Gazette, December 4, 1801; Tree of Liberty^ 

August 7, 1802. 
"> Pittsburgh Gazette, December 17, 18 13. 
" Pittsburgh Gazette, March 27, 18 12. 
" The Navigator, Pittsburgh, 1814, pp. 258-259. 
" John Mellish: Travels in the United States of America in the 

years 1806-180^-1809-1810 and 1811, Philadelphia, vol. 

ii., p. 58. 
^* Christian Schultz, Jun.: Travels on an Inland Voyage, New 

York, 1 810, p. 133. ^ 



183 



CHAPTER IX 

THE BROADENING OF CULTURE 

CRAMER'S business prospered. His was 
the only establishment in Pittsburgh 
where the sale of books was the predomi- 
nant feature. He had long called it the * * Pittsburgh 
Bookstore."^ Oliver Ormsby, whose store was 
in the brick house on Water Street, at the west- 
erly side of Chancery Lane, sold "Dilworth's 
and Webster's Spelling books, testaments, and 
Bibles in Dutch and English, primers, toy books, 
and a variety of histories, novels, etc. "^ Wil- 
liam Christy 3 and John Wrenshall'' kept a few 
books, a special feature of the latter's business 
being the sale of Dr. Jonathan Edwards's Sermons, 
but compared with Cramer's stock, the supply of 
books in other hands was insignificant. Cramer 
was also practically the only publisher of books 

in the borough. After he had been publishing for 

184 



The Broadening of Culture 185 

a few years, others began the business, but their 
books were few in number and generally unimpor- 
tant in character. Cramer's advertisements were 
sometimes amusing. He sold his goods for money, 
or in trade, and in making the announcement 
employed the axiomatic language of "Poor Rich- 
ard. " This was one of his naive notices : "I hope 
the ladies and all good girls and boys will not for- 
get to fetch me all the clean linen and cotton rags 
they possibly can. Save the smallest pieces and 
put them in a rag bag; save them from the fire 
and the ash heap. It is both honorable and 
profitable to save rags, for our country wants 
them. "5 

He added new lines to his business. Articles 
which tended to elevate and refme the standard 
of living were introduced. Wall papers had been 
in use in the East to a limited extent since 1769, 
and were no longer rare in good homes. In the 
West they were scarcely known until Cramer 
advertised his "large stock of hanging or wall 
papers."^ He sold stationery, writing paper, 
Italian and hot-pressed letter paper, wafers, quills, 
camel-hair pencils, inkstands, sealing wax, red 



i86 Pittsburgh 

and black ink powders. Card playing was one 
of the leading social diversions and he had the 
best English and American playing cards. Patent 
medicines were largely used and Cramer found it 
profitable to supply the demand. He had books 
of instructions for the flute, the violin, the piano- 
forte, and books of songs. His stock of English 
dictionaries included those of Nathan Bailey, Dr. 
Samuel Johnson, Thomas Sheridan, and John 
Walker. For the German population he had 
books in the German language, which he often 
designated as "Dutch" books. He sold German 
almanacs, German Bibles and testaments. Many 
of the German churches, both in Pittsburgh and in 
the surrounding settlements, had schools attached 
to their churches, where the German language 
was taught in connection with English studies. 
For these schools Cramer supplied the books. 
Ever since the cession of Louisiana to the United 
States there had been a great increase in the 
students of the French language among Ameri- 
cans, who intended either to engage in commerce 
with the people of that territory, or expected to 
settle there. The liberally advertised easy methods 



The Broadening of Culture 187 

of learning French ^ induced many persons to 
engage in its study. For these Cramer kept 
French books. He also sold Greek and Latin 
schoolbooks, Greek and Latin dictionaries, and 
Spanish grammars. 

In the early years Cramer had no press of his 
own. A printing office being located at either 
end of the block in which he was established, he 
divided his work between them. The Almanacs 
were printed by John Israel, and the Navigators, 
by John Scull. Business increased and he 
deemed it advisable to do his own printing, and 
on August 14, 1805, announced that he had 
"received a press, and a very handsome assort- 
ment of new type, for the purpose of printing 
such literary and ecclesiastical works as may be 
most in demand."^ His publications now be- 
came more numerous and pretentious. 

He was too active to limit his energies to 
his business. In 1803, he became Secretary of 
the Mechanical Society, and thenceforth devoted 
much attention to the office, which he held for 
several years. He was not an active politician, 
but was warmly attached to the Republican party, 



1 88 Pittsburgh 

and moreover had the respect of the entire com- 
munity. In iSii, when a division took place in 
the RepubHcan party in Allegheny County, and 
two tickets were placed in the field, his standing 
was such, that he was named as a member of the 
committee selected to bring about harmony. ' 
Like the modern successful business man, he had a 
desire for the free life and clear skies of the coun- 
try, and he engaged in farming and sheep-raising. 
When he died he had on the plantation of 
his brother-in-law, Josiah Clark, in Washington 
County, a flock of one hundred and twenty-eight 
sheep. 

In 1808, the partnership with John Spear be- 
gan, and the firm became known as Cramer & 
Spear. The establishment, however, continued 
to be called "Zadok Cramer's Bookstore"; some- 
times it was advertised as "Zadok Cramer's Classi- 
cal, Literary, and Law Bookstore." In 1810, 
William Eichbaum was taken into the firm. He 
had served a seven years' apprenticeship in book- 
binding with Cramer, and with Cramer & Spear, 
and was the son of William Eichbaum, the elder. 
It may be that young Eichbaum was the "active 



The Broadening of Culture 189 

youth of good morals and respectable character, 
wanted to learn the bookbinding and stationery 
business," for whom Cramer had advertised on 
November 6, 1802.^" The firm was now Cramer, 
Spear & Eichbaum, and continued as such until 
181 8, the year of the death of Elizabeth Cramer, 
the widow of Zadok Cramer, when Eichbaum with- 
drew and the firm was again changed to Cramer 
& Spear. 

Cramer had traveled extensively, first in pur- 
suit of information for his Navigators, and 
later in search of health. He went down the 
Ohio in 1806. In 18 10, he was in Kentucky." 
When the New Orleans, the first steamboat that 
ran on the Western rivers was being operated 
between Natchez and New Orleans, he de- 
scended the Mississippi River in it twice, from 
the former to the latter place. Much of the 
information in regard to the New Orleans, its 
structure, cost, earnings, and length of time 
required between river points, is to be found in the 
Navigator s.'^^ 

It would be impossible at this late day to 
compile a complete list of Cramer's publications, 



190 Pittsburgh 

nor would it serve any useful purpose. He pub- 
lished many sctioolbooks, particularly for chil- 
dren in the primary grades. His Pittsburgh and 
New England primers, and the United States 
Spelling Book, were famous in their day. Ec- 
clesiastical books were in great demand, and 
Cramer met it. Catechisms were used as books 
of primary instruction and were printed in many 
forms; there were Larger Catechisms, Shorter Cate- 
chisms, the Mother's Catechism, and the Child's 
Catechism. For the Germans he published in 
German, The Shorter Catechism of Dr. Martin 
Luther. The religious books that came from 
his press would form an endless list. Among 
those having a bearing on the history of that 
time was, The Marks of a Work of the Spirit, 
together with Remarks Respecting the Present As- 
tonishing Work of God, and Revival of Religion 
in the Western Country, by J. Hughes of West 
Liberty. '3 "J. Hughes," was the Rev. James 
Hughes, pastor of the Presbyterian churches at 
Lower Buffalo in Washington County, and West 
Liberty in the adjoining county of Ohio in Virginia, 
and one of the trustees of the recently estab- 



The Broadening of Culture 191 

lished Jefferson College, the pioneer college of the 
West. 

Cramer lived and flourished in an age when 
many of the publications sent out in the name of 
religion contained the merest drivel, or were 
elaborations of theories in regard to matters 
infinite held by narrow-minded controversialists. 
The press was flooded with them. There were 
publications bearing such depressing titles as 
The Happy Voyage Completed, and The Sure 
Anchor Cast. Cramer realized that in publishing 
works of this character he might be misunder- 
stood. This sentiment was evident in the adver- 
tisement of at least one of his publications. On 
that occasion he prefaced his notice by stating: 
''On the recommendation of some pious friends, we 
contemplate printing, A Token for children, Being 
an exact account of the Conversion, holy and exem- 
plary Lives and Joyful Deaths of several young 
children!'''''^ 

The most pretentious of his works was religious 
in character, and was published in 1807. It was 
A Dictionary of the Holy Bible by the Rev. John 
Brown of Haddington, in Scotland, of which two 



192 Pittsburgh 

editions were printed. It was a noteworthy 
achievement to be accomplished on the frontier, 
hundreds of miles from the center of civilization. 
Many difficulties had to be overcome, not the 
least of which was the delay occasioned by the 
difficulty in procuring a regular supply of paper. ^^ 
The work was in two large octavo volumes, and 
was illustrated with engraved pictures and maps 
that are still desired by collectors. Heading the 
list of subscribers, was the name of President Jef- 
ferson, of whom Cramer appears to have been an 
ardent admirer. In 1810, the firm published the 
Select Remains of the Rev. John Brown, the author 
of the Dictionary. 

Cramer's publications covered a wide range. 
In 1808 The Lawyer, by George Watterson, ap- 
peared, which was imbued with the current pre- 
judice against lawyers, and presented a sorry 
spectacle of the legal profession. The same year, 
a map of Pittsburgh was published, which, if 
in existence to-day, would be of great interest. 
One of his most valuable contributions to the liter- 
ature of travel, was Sketches oj a Tour to the Western 
Country in iSoy-iSog, by F. Cuming, published 



The Broadening of Culture 193 

in 1810. It contained according to Reuben Gold 
Thwaites/^ a "picture of American life in the 
West at the beginning of the nineteenth century 
that for clear-cut outlines and fidelity of presen- 
tation has the effect of a series of photographic 
representations." Another work of value was 
Views of Louisiana, by Judge Henry M. Bracken- 
ridge, published in 18 14. Cramer had met 
Brackenridge in New Orleans, in December, 181 1, 
while on one of his visits to that city, and arranged 
with him there for the publication. ^^ Jn 18 13, 
The Poetical Works of Oliver Goldsmith were 
brought out. 

One of the most important ventures of Cra- 
mer's entire publishing experience, the fruition 
of which he did not live to see, was The Western 
Gleaner or Repository for Arts, Sciences, and Liter- 
ature. It was a monthly magazine of sixty- 
four pages. The first number appeared in 
December, 1813, four months after Cramer's death. 
Compared with magazines of the present time, it 
was not of the highest order of literary merit. 
In its day, however, it ranked with the best maga- 
zines published. The excellent literary taste of 
13 



194 Pittsburgh 

the editor also appears from an incident which 
occurred during the early life of the magazine. 
The Pittsburgh Gazette published a communication 
from a disappointed aspirant for literary fame, 
signing himself "Recluse, " whose poem in fourteen 
stanzas entitled "The Two Roses," had been 
declined by the Western Gleaner. "Recluse" 
referred sarcastically to the "uncommonly pro- 
found and very discerning editor of the Western 
Gleaner. " 

That the editor of the Western Gleaner was more 
"discerning" than the editor of the Pittsburgh 
Gazette, which published "Recluse's" effort, along 
with his letter, is evident from a perusal of the 
poem. The first stanza, which is also the best, 
reads : 



' The sweetest rose that ever bloomed, 
Was one that, with insidious sip, 
Beneath Eliza's smiles presumed, 
To pilfer fragrance from her lip. "^^ 



The same persistency which procured the publi- 
cation of "The Two Roses" in the Pittsburgh Ga- 
zette, enabled "Recluse" a few years later to find 



The Broadening of Culture 195 

a publisher for a volume of his poetry, in which 
"The Two Roses" was one of the gems/^ 

In one of the numbers of the magazine Judge 
Hugh Henry Brackenridge contributed a poem, 
descriptive of his feelings on revisiting Pittsburgh, 
called "On a Circuit at This Place, " 

"What is there in this spot of earth 
Repellant to all zest of mirth, 

Heart-felt by me, 
And which on being seen again, 
The Hill, the River and the Plain 

To sadden, all agree I"^" 

Cramer realized that books having a local 
interest would find a ready sale. One of these was 
Judge Hugh Henry Brackenridge's Modern Chiv- 
alry: another was his Incidents of the Insurrection 
in Western Pennsylvania, which was an effort to 
vindicate himself for his course in the Whisky 
Insurrection. Judge Addison's impeachment in 
1803, by the Republican General Assembly, had 
created profound interest in Pittsburgh. The 
account of the trial was immediately published 
in Lancaster, then the capital of the State, and 
eagerly read. Another book of local interest 



196 Pittsburgh 

was Colonel James Smith's Captivity among the 
Indians Westward of Fort Pitt in the Year 17s S, 
published at Lexington, Kentucky, in 1799. 

Although a Republican himself, Cramer's mer- 
cantile instincts led him to sell books written in 
opposition to that party. A little volume of poems 
was of this class. David Bruce, a Scotchman 
living in the adjacent village of Burgettstown, 
whom Cramer designated as "an ingenious 
Scotch poet of Washington County," had pub- 
lished in 1 801, in Washington, Pennsylvania, a 
book which, while mainly political in character, 
had considerable merit. Bruce was a strong Fed- 
eralist, and his volume was dedicated to Judge 
Addison. To the Republicans, Brackenridge, 
Gallatin, McKean, and other more or less local 
celebrities, Bruce's references were disparaging. 
To Brackenridge he addressed the cynical 
lines : 

"When Whisky-Boys sedition sang, 
An' anarchy strod owre the Ian' 

When Folly led Rebellion's ban' 
Sae fierce an' doure, 

Fo'ks said ye sleely lent a han' 
To mak the stoure."^^ 



The Broadening of Culture 197 

A book of the same character, but covering a 
wider range, and of a higher literary tone, was The 
Echo. It had a local interest in that it contained a 
number of clever satirical references to Judge Hugh 
Henry Brackenridge. In the latter part of the 
eighteenth century, Hartford was the literary center 
of Federalistic ideas. They were promulgated by a 
group of young authors known as the "Hartford 
Wits. ' ' Included in the coterie was Richard Alsop, 
who was the principal writer of The Echo. The Echo 
had originally appeared serially, but in 1807, the 
parts were collected and published in a volume. 
The allusions to Brackenridge indicated a keen sense 
of humor and considerable poetic spirit . An article 
written by Brackenridge had appeared in 1792 in 
the National Gazette of Philadelphia, then recently 
established as the organ of the Republicans, in which 
he urged savage reprisals against the Indians, who 
were causing trouble west of Pittsburgh. To this 
screed, The Echo made the mocking reply : 

' ' I grant my pardon to that dreaming clan. 
Who think that Indians have the rights of man; 
Who deem the dark skinn'd chiefs those miscreants 
base, 



198 Pittsburgh 

Have souls like ours, and are of human race; 
And say the scheme so wise, so nobly plann'd. 
For rooting out these serpents from the land, 
To kill their squaws, their children yet unborn, 
To burn their wigwams, and pull up their corn; 
By sword and fire to purge the unhallow'd train. 
And kindly send them to a world of pain, 
Is vile, unjust, absurd : — -as if our God 
One single thought on Indians e'er bestow'd, 
To them his care extends, or even knew. 
Before Columbus told him where they grew. "^^ 

On another occasion when Brackenridge was a 
candidate for Congress, he published in the Aurora 
an appeal to the electors of his Congressional 
District in which he animadverted harshly on 
the educational accomplishments of General John 
Woods, his Federalist opponent. This presented 
another opportunity for the clever writers of 
The Echo to burlesque a leading Republican. The 
Echo gibed: 

"But, to return to V/oods, — to speak my mind, 
His education was of narrow kind ; 
Nor has he since to learning much applied, 
But smil'd with calm contempt on pedant pride. 
His mental powers, howe'er, superior shine. 
His genius glows with energy divine. 
But when with mine in competition plac'd. 
How low his powers, his genius sinks debas'd, 



The Broadening of Culture 199 

Has not my genius shone with peerless ray, 
And o'er Ohio pour'd the blaze of day? 
Have not my writings spread abroad my name, 
And bards consign'd me to immortal fame? 
Then shall John Woods with me presume to vie, 
The brightest star that decks the western sky?"^^ 

Cramer's books covered the entire range of 
literary endeavor and among them were a majority 
of the contemporary publications. The French 
Revolutionary movement was well represented. 
A work coming under this designation was the 
Life and Campaigns of General Count Alexander 
Suwarrow, which was of interest also because 
Suwarrow's title to fame rested at least partly 
on the fact that he was the originator of the high 
tasseled-boot, much worn both in military and civil 
circles after the year 1800. There was a flood 
of Bonapartist literature. A book of this class 
which had a local interest was the Life of General 
Jean Victor Moreau. After being exiled from 
France on account of conspiring against Napo- 
leon, this officer had come to the United States 
in 1805, and made a tour of the Ohio and 
Mississippi Valleys. Having passed through 
Pittsburgh, his name was well known there. Works 



200 Pittsburgh 

of travel were numerous. Conspicuous in biog- 
raphy were the lives of Washington, Franklin, 
and Kotzebue, the German playright and novelist, 
then at the height of his career. There were his- 
tories of various European countries, and William 
Winterbotham's History of the American United 
States. The History of Women, if at hand to-day, 
would be of interest to that large body of women 
who are making such herculean efforts to obtain 
greater rights for their sex. Among the notable 
books of the day was Thomas Jefferson's Notes on 
the State of Virginia. Two editions had been 
published prior to Jefferson's becoming President. 
After the election in 1800, the work was re- 
published in a large octavo volume, for which 
Cramer was agent in Pittsburgh. ^ '^ Another book 
which attracted considerable attention was the 
History of John Adams, Esquire, late president of 
the United States, by John Wood. It was a rank 
Republican account of a most interesting period. 
It was printed and ready for publication in De- 
cember, 1 801, but was suppressed at the instigation 
of Aaron Burr, as being incorrect and libelous. 
The book was finally published in 1802. A com- 



The Broadening of Culture 201 

panion-piece to Wood's book, was the one by 
James Cheetham, which gave an account of the 
suppression. It was entitled, A Narrative of the 
Suppression by Col. Burr of the History of the 
Administration of John Adams, by a Citizen of 
New York. 

: Philosophy was not neglected. Representative 
of that science were William Enfield's History 
of Philosophy, William Smellie's Philosophy of 
Natural History, Francis Hutchinson's System 
of Moral Philosophy, and Count Volney's Law of 
Nature. Books relating to trades, included the 
Miller and Millwright's Guide; the Young Carpen- 
ter's Assistant; the New System of Gardening; the 
Dictionary of Husbandry; Washington's Letters 
to Arthur Young; the English Gardener; and Ele- 
ments of Architecture. Freemasonry was described 
in William Preston's Illustrations of Masonry. 
Among books relating to the professions, those 
pertaining to divinity were most numerous. The 
Methodists had increased in numbers and were in 
better standing in the community. John Wren- 
shall was addressed as the "Rev." John Wrenshall, 
and Cramer began to sell the Memoirs of George 



202 Pittsburgh 

Whitfield, the famous exponent of Methodism. 
Law books were a close second to those of divinity. 
There were books on state, national, and inter- 
national law. In medicine there were books for 
family use, and books for physicians. 

Belles-lettres and poetry formed an important 
department. Predominant in belles-lettres were 
the writings of Addison, Steele, and Pope in the 
Spectator, and its successors, the Guardian, and 
the Tattler; Dr. Johnson, in his "Rambler"; and 
Salmagundi, when it appeared in 1807. Junius' s 
Letters; the works of Lawrence Sterne; the Posthu- 
mous Works of Jonathan Swift ; and Peter Pindar's 
Satires were other books in this department. In 
the selection of plays, those of Kotzebue were 
prominent. The English plays were represented 
by George Colman, the younger's, The Poor 
Gentleman, a comedy produced in Covent Gar- 
den in 1801, and by Thomas Morton's, Speed 
the Plough, produced in 1798. Because of its 
authorship, The Battle of Bunker Hill, by Judge 
Hugh Henry Brackenridge, had a local interest. 
In the realm of poetry, were the poems of John 
Pomfret, Robert Burns, Dr. Thomas Brown, 



The Broadening of Culture 203 

Alexander Pope, John Milton, Thomas Moore, 
Allan Ramsay, and Robert Southey. In this 
class was Thomas Campbell's The Pleasures oj 
Hope; James Beattie's The Minstrel; Samuel 
Rogers's Pleasures of Memory; William Cowper's 
Beauties oj Cowper, and The Task; Joel Barlow's 
The Vision of Columbus; Robert Bloomfield's, The 
Farmer^s Boy, and A Song; James Thomson's 
Seasons. Zaida, by Kotzebue; Charlotte Temple, 
by Mrs. Susanna Rowson, and Don Quixote were 
popular romances. In colonial days, and in the 
early days of the republic, little stitched pamph- 
lets, called chapbooks, because largely circulated 
by itinerant vendors, or chapmen, were much in 
vogue. Books in this form for children had a 
large circulation, and Cramer carried an inter- 
esting list. 

Cramer's upright nature often led him to express 
opinions that were contrary to the views obtaining 
in publications of his firm. Cuming in his Tozir 
of the Western Country, in the reference to Pitts- 
burgh had written: "Amusements are also a good 
deal attended to, particularly the annual horse 
races." On this observation Cramer commented 



204 Pittsburgh 

in a note: "We are sorry to have to acknowledge 
that horse racing contrary to the express law of the 
State, has been more or less practiced within the 
vicinity of this place for a few years back; but we 
are pleased with the prospect of having it totally 
abolished by the influence of its evident impro- 
priety, danger, and wickedness, operating on the 
minds of the more thoughtful and judicious. "^^ 
That Cramer was not alone in condemning the 
horse races is apparent from a communication 
which had appeared in the Pittsburgh Gazette six 
years earlier.-^ This writer designated the races 
as "a fruitful seminary of vice." He declared 
that the "schools and shops are shut up or de- 
serted, and the youth of both sexes run to harm, 
folly, and debauchery. . . . The money, too, which 
ought to be expended in the honest maintenance of 
families and the payment of debts is squandered 
on sharpers, gamblers and sutlers." 

If some fact or custom was referred to, which 
Cramer considered morally wrong, or which might 
disparage Pittsburgh in the eyes of the world at 
large, he spoke out vigorously in opposition. In 
the Navigator for i8ii,^7 the statement was 



The Broadening of Culture 205 

made that there were "two or three whisky dis- 
tilleries in the town." This was immediately 
followed in the text by a disapproval of distilleries, 
and a quaint homily on the evils of intemperance. 
"We cannot say anything in praise of these," 
Cramer wrote. "Whisky as a medicine is good, 
that is, to take it only when the system requires it 
and no more than is sufficient to perform the 
part of a gentle stimulant ; but to drink it as is now 
universally practiced, is destructive of health, 
strength, morals, religion, and honesty; and is a 
serious national calamity, in which man sinks in the 
estimation of himself, and becomes an abhorrence 
in the eyes of God." 

Cramer's career was short. He had never been 
robust, and close attention to business had un- 
dermined his constitution; consumption devel- 
oped. He attempted in vain to obtain reHef in 
southern travel, and died on August i, 18 13, 
just before reaching his fortieth year, at Pen- 
sacola, Florida, while on the way to Havana, 
the journey having been recommended by his 
physician. In Pensacola his remains were buried 
and there they lie in an unmarked grave. To 



2o6 Pittsburgh 

the last he was planning new business projects, 
and preserved his cheerfulness to the end. Not 
once was he known to be fretful or ill-natured. 
He left his widow and one child, a daughter, 
Susan. The firm was continued for many years, 
first by the widow, in conjunction with John Spear, 
and after her death on May 5, 181 8, by the daugh- 
ter. The affairs of the partnership were not 
wound up until July 6, 1835. 

In early life the daughter married Dr. J, B. 
Cochran in Pittsburgh. Becoming a widow, 
she removed to Beaver, Pennsylvania, with her 
three children. Her children were Zadok Cramer 
Cochran, James Spear Cochran, and Mary 
Cochran. After their mother's death in 1854, 
the children removed to Coatesville, Pennsyl- 
vania. From Coatesville they went to Free- 
port, Illinois. Here the two sons engaged in 
teaching and conducted an academy. James 
later took up the study of the law, and was ad- 
mitted to the Bar. Drifting into politics he was 
elected to the State Senate. The two brothers 
are both dead, but the sister is still living, being 
the wife of Joseph Emmert, of Freeport, Illinois. 



I 



REFERENCES 

Chapter IX 

^ Tree of Liberty, August 7, 1802. 
=* Pittsburgh Gazette, October 10, 1800. 
3 Tree of Liberty, January 16, 1802, 
" Tree of Liberty, October 8, 1803. 
s Pittsburgh Gazette, April 19, 1S08. 
^ Tree of Liberty, May 21, 1803. 
? Pittsburgh Gazette, January 9, 1801. 
* The Commonwealth, August 14, 1805. 
9 r^e Commonwealth, September 29, 181 1. 
^o Tree of Liberty, November 6, 1802. 
^' r/ie Navigator, Pittsburgh, 18 14, pp. 272-277. 
^^ The Navigator, Pittsburgh, 1814, pp. 31-32. 
^3 Tree of Liberty, June 4, 1803. 
^4 r^e Pittsburgh Magazine Almanac for 18 10. 
^s rfe Pittsburgh Magazine Almanac for 1807. 
i« Reuben Gold Thwaites: Fortescue Cuming, Sketches of a 
Tour to the Western Country in 1807-1809, Cleveland, 
Ohio, 1904, p. 9. 
'7 H. M. Brackenridge: Views of Louisiana, Pittsburgh, 

1814, p. 4. 
'8 Pittsburgh Gazette, January 28, 18 14. 
'9 The Recluse: The Art of Domestic Happiness anji Other 

Poems, Pittsburgh, 1817, pp. 1-317. 
" The Western Gleaner or Repository for Arts, Sciences, and 

Literature, Pittsburgh, 18 14, vol. ii., pp. 185-186. 
" David Bruce: Poems entirely in the Scottish Dialect, origin- 
ally written under the signature of the Scots-Irishman, 
Washington, 1801, p, 46. 
■^ The Echo, pp. 32-39. 
■^ The Echo, pp. 150-151. 

207 



2o8 Pittsburgh 

2 4 Tree of Liberty, January 24, 1801. 

25 F. Cuming: Sketches oj a Tour to the Western Country in 1807- 

180Q, Pittsburgh, 18 10, p. 231. 
"fi Pittsburgh Gazette, October 16, 1801. 
=7 The Navigator, Pittsburgh, 1811, p. 63. 



INDEX 



Adams, George, 114, 128 

Adams, Henry, 81 

Adams, John, 165; History of, 

200 
Addison, Alexander, Judge, 
impeachment of, 47-48, 139, 
195; Federahst, 131, 132 
Adgate & Co., 104 
Allegheny Count}^, 22, 23 
Allegheny County Courts, 157 
Allegheny County Militia, 74, 

75 

Almanacs, 4, 165, 172; Cram- 
er's, 172-174; "Common," 
174; "Magazine," 174 

Alsop, Richard, 197 

Amberson, Beelen, & Anshutz, 

American Coast Pilot, 182 
Amusements, 67-74, 186, 203 
Arnold, actor, 70 
Ash, Thomas, 181 
Ashton, Capt. Joseph, 95, 151 
Ashton & Denny, 152 
Audrian, Peter, 49 
Aurora, newspaper, 51 

Baird, Thomas, 96, 128, 130 
Baldwin, Heniy, 96, 141, 148, 

149; attacked by Pentland, 

145, 146 
Balls, 68, 72; for Gen. Lee, 69 
Bank of Pennsylvania, 

branch, 93, 116 
Baptists, 95 

Barker, Abner, 116, 117, 132 
Barker, Jeffe, 116, 117 
Barker, Jeremiah, 117, 132 
Barrett, William, 121 



Bartholf, Francis, Baron de 
Belen, 152 

Bates, Edward, 145 

Bates, Frederick, 143, 145, 148 

Bates, James, 145, 148 

Bates,Tarleton,96, 131, 141 fl.; 
duel, 142-150 

Bausman, Elizabeth, marriage, 

^ 125 

Bausman, Jacob, 30; varied 
career, 41-42 

Bausman, Nicholas, 41 

Bayard, Colo. Stephen, 5 

Beaujolais, Count of, 1 1 1 

Bedford County, 2 

Beelen, Anthony, 96, 150, 152 

Beelen, Francis, 152 

Beltzhoover, Melchoir, 41 

"Black Charley," 39 

Blunt, Edmund, American 
Coast Pilot, 1 82 

Boat yards, 8, 40, 92 

Books, in households, 14; sale 
of, 14, 15, 27; interest in, 27; 
most popula.r, 169-171; 
Cramer's publications, 189 
ff . ; contemporaneous history, 
190; of local interest, 195- 
196; contemporary publica- 
tions, 199; in Cramer's book- 
store, 199 ff. 

Bookstores, 95; first 27; Cram- 
er's "Pittsburgh Bookstore," 
116, 163, 186, 188, 199 ff.; 
Christy's and Wrenshall's, 
184 

Boyd, John, 15, 16 

Brackenridge, Henry M., Judge, 
recollections of Grant's Hill, 



2C9 



210 



Index 



Brackenridge, Henry — Cont'd 
71; account of horse racing, 
73; on the Court of Alle- 
gheny County, 118; Views 
of Louisiana, 1 93 

Brackenridge, Hugh Henry, 
Judge, 49, 71; author, 26 
195. I97i I98» 202; Modern 
Chivalry, 26; political leader, 
55, Fourth of July speech, 
56; Justice of Supreme Court 
58; opposed to Brison, 58 ff. ; 
and the Tree of Liberty, 
62-63; and the Whisky 
Insurrection, 81, 106, 124, 
195; Freemason, 95; resi- 
dence, 97, 115; antagonizes 
soldiers, 11 5-1 16; candidate 
for Congress, 125, 198; at- 
tacks on, 133-134; and im- 
peachment of Addison, 139; 
settles Gilkison's affairs, 163; 
Bruce's lines to, 196; satires 
on, in The Echo, 197-198 

Braddocksfield, 119 

Brantz, Lewis, notes on Pitts- 
burgh, 9, 30 

Breweries, 78, 92 

Brickyards, 31, 92 

Brison, James, 58-59 

Bromley, actor, 70 

Bruce, David, author of politi- 
cal volume, 196 

Brunot, Dr. Felix, 48, 51 

Bryan, George, Justice, 118 

Building lots, value of, 98-99, 
100 

Burr, Aaron, 57; election of, 
165-167; suppresses History 
of John Adams, 200 

Business centre of the town, 
164 

Butler, General Richard, 95, 
122—123 

Butler, Colonel William, 95 

Calhoun, John, 117 
Calhoun, Samuel, 117 
Campbell, Colonel John, 4, 5 
Campbell, Robert, 34 
Card industry, 104 



Card playing, 67, 186 

Carlisle, 2 

Chapman, Thomas, 30-31 

Cheetham, James, 201 

Christy, William, Merchant, 
107, 131-132, 154, 184 

Church records, 174 

Churches, German, 10, 93, 186; 
Presbyterian, 83, 93; Episco- 
palian, 93; Roman Catholic, 
94; Methodist, 94-95 

City Hall, 50 

"Clapboard Row," 127; politi- 
cal methods, 12S; opposed, 
131, 132 

"Clapboard Row Junto," 127 

' ' Clapboar donian Democracy, ' ' 
127 

Clark, General George Rodgers, 
141 

Clark, Josiah, 188 

Clothing materials, 64-65 

Coal, 7, 91, 92 

Cochran, Dr. J. B., 206 

Cochran, John Spear, 206 

Cochran, Mary, 206 

Cochran, Susan Cramer, 206 

Cochran, Zadok Cramer, 206 

Comforts and luxuries, 63-64 

Common Almanac, 174 

Commonwealth, The, news- 
paper, 138, 140 

Concerts, 69 

Constitutionalists, 140 

Coppinger, 78 

Cotton mills, 92, 93 

County jail, 24, 157 

Court House, present, 50 ; first, 
117, 118; in 1800, 155-156 

Craig, Major Isaac, buys 
land in Pittsburgh, 5; starts 
glass factory, 32 ; Freemason, 
96; tenement of, 106; Feder- 
alist, 131; Deputy Quarter 
Master, 142 

Cramer, Elizabeth, 189 

Cramer, Susan, 206 

Cramer, Zadok, 161 fl; birth, 
162; bookbinding, 116, 162- 
163, bookstore, 116, 163, 1 84, 
188-189; publisher, 164-165, 



Index 



211 



Cramer, Zadok — Continued \ 
184, publications, 165, 167, 
172, 174, 176 ff., 179, 180; 
187, 189; opens Circulating 
Library, 168-171; partners, 
171, 188; advertisements, 
185; accuses Harris and Ash 
of plagiarism, 181 ; new lines 
of business, 185-186; print- 
ing business, 187; offices held, 
187; farming and sheep rais- 
ing, 188; travels, 189; meets 
H. M. Brackenridge, 193; 
mercantile instincts, 196; op- 
poses moral wrong, 204 ; con- 
demns horse racing, 204; on 
whisky drinking, 205; death, 
205 
Cramer, Mrs. Zadok, 206 
Cramer's Almanac, 172-174 
Culture, 3, 4, 26, 184 ff. 
Cumberland County, 2 
Cuming, F., Tour of the West- 
ern Country, 192-193 

Dancing, 67-69, 154 
Davis, Joseph, 131, 154 
Declary, Peter, 69 
"Democratic" party, 54 
* ' Democratic Republican ' ' 

party, 54 
Denny, Major Ebenezer, 131, 

150-151 
Denny & Beelen, 150, 151 
Dent, Julia, 153 
Dobbins & McElhinney, no 
Dress, Freemasons', 12; men's, 

65-67 
Drinking, 80-82 
Duane, William, 51 
Dubac, Gabriel, Chevalier, 48, 

III 
Du Lac, Perrin, 64 
Dunlap (James) & Co., 155 
"Dutch," 43,44 

Echo, The, 197-198 

Education, in early days, 3-4; 
schools established, 14; high- 
er, 17 

Eichh um, William, 40, 41, 79 



Eichbaum, William, Jr., 188- 

189 
Emigration westward, through 

Pittsburgh, 6-8, 29, 175, 179 
Emmert, Mrs. Joseph, 206 
Emmett, Samuel, 30, 80 
English language, 38, 40 
English-speaking population, 

38, 40 
Episcopalians, 93, 94 
Ewalt, Samuel, 41, 96, 104, 130 

Farmers' dress, 66 

Federal party, opposition to, 
52-53, 54; supporters of, 62, 
76, 131-132; emblem of, 74- 
76; in the House of Repre- 
sentatives, 165 i 

Ferree, Thomas, 13, 157-158 

Ferries, over Monongahela 
River, 29, 42 ; over Allegheny 
River, 30; and taverns, 80 

Food, 63, 64 

Forman, Major Thomas S., 35 

Fort Fayette, 33 

Fort Pitt, 9, 10, 31, 33 

Fort Stanwix, 8 

Forward, Walter, 1 41-142 

Fowler, General Alexander, 
commander of militia, 74; 
republican, 75 ; left Republi- 
can party, 127; controversy 
with Gazzam, 128-130 

Francis, Tench, 5 

Freemasons, first lodge in 
Western country, 1 1 ; start 
temperance movement, 95- 
96; See also Lodge 45 

French, 38; emigration of, 51- 
52 

French mfluence, 46, 51, 65, 
199 

French language, 39 

French radicalism, influence of, 

53 
Freneau, Philip, 26 
"Friends of the People," 140 
Fulton & Baird, 121, 130 

Gallatin, Albert, 57, 162; glass 
factory, 32, 122; political 



212 



Index 



Gallatin, Albert — Continued 
honors, 46-47, 125 ; at Marie's 
tavern, 49; on Western 
Pennsylvania, 52; candidate 
for Congress, 55 

Gallitzen, Demetrius Augus- 
tine, 94 

Gazzam, William, 121; con- 
troversy with Fowler, 128- 

130 

German church, organized, 10; 
conducts schools, 14, 186; 
treasurer, 42; followers, 40, 

45 
German language, 39, 40, 45, 
186 

German Fanners' Register, The, 
newspaper, 45 

Germans, 38; organize church, 
10; second in numbers to 
English, 40; confused with 
the Dutch, 43, 44; social 
intercourse, 45 ; establish 
newspaper, 45; and religion, 

83 

Gilkison, John C., bookseller, 
27, 163; prothonotary, 59, 
163; starts library, 168 

Glass factories, 32, 92 

Grant's Hill, pleasure ground, 

49. 70-71, 77 
"Grant's Hill," tavern, 49, 50 
Gregg's (Isaac) Ferry, 30 



Hall, Joseph, 14 
Hamilton, report on manufac- 
tures, 91 
Hamsher, John, 40, 41, 155 
Hancock, Richard, 122, 125 
Hannastown, 2; attacked by 
British and Indians, 11 43, 
58 
Harmar, General Josiah, 151 
Harris, Joseph, 157 
Harris, Rev. Thaddeus Mason, 

181 
"Hartford Wits," 197 
Haymaker, Jacob, 40, 42, 126 
Henderson, Rev. Matthew, 57 
Henderson, Robert, 30, 80 



Herald of Liberty, newspaper, 

62 
Herd, William, 121 
Herron, Rev. Francis, 83-84 
Hilliard, Elizabeth Bausman, 

125-126 
Hilliard, James, 125, 126 
Horse racing, 72-73; con- 
demned, 203-204 
Houses, construction, 31 ff., 
loi; numbered, 33; com- 
forts in, 63 
Hufnagle, Michael, 43, 96 
Hughes, Rev. James, 190 
Hutchins, Capt. Thomas, 175- 
176; Topographical Descrip- 
tion of Pennsylavnia, Mary- 
land, and Virginia, 175 

Imlay, Gilbert, North America, 

Incorporation of Pittsburgh, 
24 

Indians, the Penns' dealings 
with, 6; treaty with, 8; at- 
tack Hannastown, 11, 43; 
recede westward, 13 

Industries, 91-93 

Insurgents, 71, 81, 1 19-120; 
conference with, 123-125 

Irish, 38, 55 

Irish, Nathaniel, 130, 153 

Iron industries, 91-92 

Irvine, General William, 123 

Irwin, Captain John, 96, 107, 

154 
Irwin, William, 69, 96, 107, 154 
Israel, John, 62, 141, 187 
Italians, 38 

Jackson, Andrew, doctrine, 58 

"Jacobins," 56 

Jefferson, Thomas, radical 
ideas of liberty, 53-54; recep- 
tion of these ideas in Penn- 
sylvania, 54-55; Republican 
dinner in honor of, 56-57, 
108; presidential election of, 
165-167; Notes on the State 
of Virginia, 200 

Jockey Club, 72, 79 



Index 



213 



Johnson, John, 117 
Jones, Ephraim, 29, 80 
Jones, Samuel, 35, 108; on 

social life, 71-72 
Jones & Laughlin Steel Co., 

148 
Justices of the peace, loi 

Kramer, Baltzer, 32 
Kramer, Christian, 32 

Land, sales of, 5-6, 100 

Lawlessness, 25 

Laws, 24 

Lee, General Henry, 59, 69, 

"5 

"Lee, Light-Horse Harry," 

59 

Lee, Rev. Wilson, 78 

Lewis and Clark expedition, 
179 

Liberty, new ideas of, 53 

Libraries, private, 14; cir- 
culating, 16, 19, 168-171 

Liquors, 64; manufacture and 
sale of, 77-79; drinking of, 
80-82 

"Lodge 45 of Ancient York 
Masons, " first masonic lodge 
in Pittsburgh, 11; observ- 
ance of St. John the Bap- 
tist's Day, 12; observance of 
St. John the Evangelist's 
Day, 13, 108; meeting place, 
7^1 95, 155; temperance 
movement, 95-96 ; secretary, 
108 

Louisiana Purchase, furthers 
trade, 90 ; and the Navigator, 
179 

Lucus,John B. C, 47-48, 151 

Luxuries, 63-64 

McClurg, Joseph, 122, 128, 130 
McKean, Thomas, 108, 118; 
turns Republican, 54, 56; 
candidate for Governor, 57, 
140; takes office, 58; recom- 
mends militia emblem, 75; 
Commissioner to meet In- 
surgents, 123; reappoints 



Tannehill, 131; vetoes revo- 
lutionary bills, 138; refuses 
to remove Brackenridge, 139 ; 
supporters and opponents of, 
140, 141 ; alluded to by Bruce, 
196 

McLane, D., 34 

AIcLaughlin, Alexander, 132, 

153 

McMillan, Rev. Dr. John, 57, 
81 

McNickle, A., 130 

Madison, James, 57 

Magazhie Almanac, 174 

Magee, Samuel, 121 

Magee, Thomas, 121 

Mail robbed, 119 

Map of Pittsburgh published, 
192 

Marie, John, 49, 50 

Marie, Mrs. John (Jane), di- 
vorce case, 50-51 

Marie's tavern, 56, 75 

Market House, 155 

A'larket Street, 96-98, 99, 104 

Mechanical Society of Pitts- 
burgh, 17-19, 78, 187 

Mellish, John, 181 

Methodists, 94-95, 201 

Michaux, Dr. F. A., 48, 50 

Mifflin, Thomas, 54, 56 

Military plan of the town, 

30-31 

Military spirit, 74 

Militia of Pennsylvania, 74-77 

Modern Chivalry, by H. H. 

Brackenridge, 26 
Money, circulation of, 15, 28- 

29 
Montpensier, Duke of, iii 
Moore, Hamilton, Practical 

Navigator, 182 
Moreau, Jean Victor, 199 
Morgan, General Daniel, 69, 

115-116 
Morrow, William, 12, 79 
Morse, Jedidiah, American 

Gazetteer, 176 
Mowry, Dr. Peter, 114, 132 
Murphy, Mrs. Mary (Molly), 

122, 152 



214 



Index 



Nail factories, 92, 93 
National currency established, 

99 

National Gazette, 51 

Nationalities in Pittsburgh, 38 

Navigator, 174, 187; sources 
of its material, 175, 176, 178; 
various editions, 176-182; 
advertised, 177; local in- 
formation in, 180-182 

Negley, Alexander, 41 

Negley, Jacob, 41 

Negroes, 38-39 

Neville, Emily Morgan, 144 

Neville, General John, Free- 
mason, 95; residence, 105; 
offices held, 106; Federalist, 

131 

Neville, Morgan, 48 

Neville, Colonel Presley, public 
offices, 105, 106; residence, 
115; saves Brackenridge, 116 
Federalist, 131; opinion of 
Democrats, 144 

New Era in 1800, 90 

New Orleans, steamboat, 189 

Newspapers, first, 14; German, 
45; see also Pittsburgh Ga- 
zette and Tree of Liberty 

Nicholson, James W., 32 

" Office of Discount and De- 
posit, " 116 

O'Hara, Colonel James, 95, 
120, 131 ; glass manufacturer, 
32; brewer, 78; candidate for 
burgess, 105 

Ohio and Mississippi Navigator, 

176-177 
Ohio River, navigation of, 7, 

176-178 
Orleans, Duke of, iii 
Ormbsy, John, 78, 95 
Ormsby, Oliver, 184 

Patterson, Rev. Joseph, 81 

Penn, John, 4-5, 6 

Penn, John, Jr., 4-5, 6 

Penn, William, 4 

Penns, the, 42, 98 

Pentland, Ephraim, editor 138; 



attacks on Bates and Bald- 
win, 145-147, 149 
Peters, Judge Richard, 106 
Philadelphia, post route from 

Pittsburgh, 17 
Pipe manufactory, 92 
Pittsburgh Academy, 17 
"Pittsburgh Bookstore," 116, 

163, 184, 186 ff. 
Pittsburgh Circulating Library, 

167-171 
Pittsburgh Fire Company, 24, 

130 
Pittsburgh Gazette, established, 
14; and politics, 56, 62, 133; 
contributors, 75; in religious 
revival, 85; owner, 114; 
Cramer's advertisement in, 
162-163; advertises Naviga- 
tor, 177 
Pittsburgh Library Company, 

171 
"Pittsburgh" manor, 5 
Pitt Township, 23, 28 
Plan of town, 4, 5, 30-31 
Population, in 1786, 9; na- 
tionalities, 38; in 1800 and 
1 8 10, 90; Protestant, 93 
Porter, William, 122 
Post office, 17, 114, 128 
Post route, 17 
Practical Navigator, 182 
Presbyterian Church, 9, 10, 

83, 93, 94 

Printing offices, 187 
Protestants, 10, 93-94 
Public improvements, 98 
Publishing business, 164, 184- 
185 

Race horses, 73 

Reed, John, 79, 157 

Reel, Casper, 41 

Religion, 9-1 1, 82-83, 93; re- 
vival, 84-85; books on, 191 

Republican General Assembly, 
radical, 138-139 

Republican party, headquar- 
ters, 50; "Democratic Re- 
publican," 54; rapid growth 
in Pennsylvania, 55; leader 



Index 



215 



Republican party — Continued 
in Pittsburgh, 55; French 
influences, 55, 56; influence 
on dress, 65; spoils doctrine, 
58; emblem, 75-76; domi- 
nant throughout country, 
132; in national election, 
165-167 

Richards, Charles, 39 

Richardson, Dr. Andrew, Free- 
mason, 96, 108; conducts 
drug store, 107; political 
leader, 108; speech on Free- 
masonry, 108-109, left Re- 
publican party, 109-110; 
death, no 

Riddle, James, 96, 121, 128 

Robinson, James, 30, 80 

Robinson and Ensell, 92 

Roman Catholics, 94 

Ross, James, trouble with Mrs. 
Marie, 50-51; candidate for 
governor, 50, 57; Freemason, 
96; Commissioner to meet 
Insurgents, 123; political 
leader, 131, 132 

Roup, Jonas, 41 

St. Clair, General Arthur, 151 

St. John the Baptist's Day, 
observance of, 12-13 

St. John the Evangelist's day, 
observance of, 12, 13, 108 

St. Patrick's Church, 94 

Schoepf, Dr. Johann David, 7 

Schools, 4, 14, 50, 186 

Schultz, Christian, on Naviga- 
tor, 181-182 

Scotch, 38 

Scott, Dr. Hugh, 96, 121, 128 

Scott, John, 117 

Scott & Trotter, 120 

Scull, John, establishes PittS' 
burgh Gazette, J4-15; post- 
master, 17; printer, 26, 187; 
residence, 114; attacks on 
Brackenridge, 133-134 

Semple, Samuel, "/& 

Semple, Steele, 116 

Semple, William, 27, 115 

Shippinsburg, 2 



"Sign of the Black Bear," 13, 

158 
"Sign of the Cross Keys," 57, 

79 

"Sign of the Franklin Head," 
116, 164 

"Sign of General Butler," 125; 
and social affairs, 68; name, 
122; during Whisky Insur- 
rection, 123, 124; political 
headquarters, 127 

"Sign of General Washington," 

34 
"Sign of the Green Tree," 13, 

34, 68; meeting place of 

masonic lodge, 12, 96 
"Sign of the Indian Queen," 

79-80 
" Sign of the Negro, " I2f2 
"Sign of the Sheaf of Wheat," 

153 

Sign of the Waggon," 68, 79, 

.^57 

Six Nations, treaty with, 8 
Slavery, 38, 39, 41 
Smith, Thomas, 130 
Smith, Rev. Dr. William, 44 
Smith & Shiras, 78 
Smur, John, 126 
Snyder, Simon, 50, 51, 140 
Social life, 71-72, 77 
South School, 50 
Spanish milled dollar, 99 
Spear John, 171, 188, 206 
Spoils doctrine, 58 
Steele, Rev. Robert, 13, 96, 
129; dress, 66; appointment, 

85 
Stevenson, Dr. George, 120- 

121; 131 
Stewart, Thomas, 147, 149 
Stores, 102, 103, 116-117, 120 

ff., 150, 154 ff., 184 
Streets, 35, 98 
Sturgeon, Jeremiah, 57, 79 
Supreme Court, 118, 130, 139 
Swiss-Germans, 10, 38 

Tannehill, Adamson, 130 
Tanneries, 92 
Tavern-keeping, 78, 79 



2l6 



Index 



Tavern signs, 33-35 
Taverns, 33, 68, 77, 78 
Temperance movement, 96 
Theatrical performances, 69, 70 
Thorn, William, 82-83 
Tinware manufactory, 92 
Town meetings, 102 
Town officials, 101 
Townships, 23, 28 
Trade, 7, 102 
Trade centre, 7, 29 
Transportation, 25, 93 
Tree of Liberty, established, 62 ; 

contributors, 75; office, 115; 

charge against editor, 127; 

in politics, 132, 140; in 

mourning, 149; advertises 

Navigator, 17 y 
Tree of Sedition, Blasphemy, 

and Slander, 56 
Trees, 33, 97 
Trinity Church, 93 
TurnbuU, William, 115 

United States Mint authorized, 

99 

University of Pittsburgh, 17 

Veech, Judge James, on whisky, 
80-81 

Wallace, Judge George, 117 
Washington, George, President, 

78, 123 
Washington County, 22 
Water Street residences, 105- 

107 
Watson, Andrew, tavern, 18, 

117, 118 



Weber, Rev. Johann Wilhelm, 

lO-II 

Welsh, 38 

Western Gleaner, The, maga- 
azine, 193-195 

Westmoreland County, 2, 22 

"Whale and the Monkey," 
Sign of, 34 
Whisky Boys," 81 

Whisky Insurrection, 29, 59, 
106; cause, 25, 77; expedi- 
tion against, 29, 59; at its 
height, 1 19-120; Govern- 
ment conference with In- 
surgents, 123-125 

Wilkins, John, 117 

Willock, Andrew, Jr., 153 

Wills, Alexander, 158 

Wills, James, 153 

Wills, John, 158 

Wilson and Wallace, sale of 
books, 14 

Winebiddle, Conrad, 41 

Wood, John, History of John 
Adams, 200 

Woods, George, 5 

Woods, General John, 125, 
131, 132, 198 

Woods (Wm.) & Company, 155 

Wrenshall, John, local preacher, 
84, 201; Farewell to Pitts- 
burgh and the Mountains, 1 53 ; 
bookstore, 184 

Wusthoff, William, 41, 96 

Yeaman, James, 78, 158 
Yeates, Jasper, 123, 130 
"Young Messenger," race 
horse, 73, 79 



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